Petfinder Privacy Policy

WHAT THIS PRIVACY POLICY APPLIES TO

This privacy policy applies to the websites, mobile and social media applications controlled by Petfinder, a division of Nestlé Purina PetCare Company (“Petfinder,” “we” or “us”) and offline interactions with us where this privacy policy is posted or referenced (collectively, the “Sites”). BY USING THE SITES OR PROVIDING INFORMATION TO US OFFLINE, YOU CONSENT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND TO OUR PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES STATED BELOW. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY, PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SITES OR PROVIDE US WITH YOUR INFORMATION OFFLINE.

A. What Information Do We Collect From And About You?

We collect two types of information from visitors to the Sites: (1) Personally Identifiable Information; and (2) Non-Personally Identifiable Information.

(1) Personally Identifiable Information

“Personally Identifiable Information” is information that identifies you personally, such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, or company name. Petfinder collects and stores the personally identifiable information that you have provided to us. Here are some examples of manners in which we may collect your personally identifiable information on the Sites:

• We may collect your email address, first and last name and zip code if you sign up for an online newsletter;
• We may collect your email address if you contact us with a question;
• We may collect your first and last name, date of birth and email address if you choose to participate in a contest or sweepstakes;
• We may collect your first and last name, your address, and your credit card and billing information if you make a purchase of a product from us; and
• We may collect your email address, first and last name, address, phone number, and your household information if you apply to adopt a pet via our site.

The above list provides an example of the personally identifiable information that may be collected on the Sites. If you do not want Petfinder to collect your personally identifiable information, please do not provide it to us.

(2) Non-Personally Identifiable Information

“Non-Personally Identifiable Information” can be technical information or it can be demographic information, such as your age, gender or interests. Non-personally identifiable information does NOT identify you personally. Here are some examples of the non-personally identifiable information that is collected via the Sites and a description of how this information is used:

• Internet Protocol (IP) address – Your IP address is a number that lets computers attached to the Internet know where to send you data – such as the webpages you view. We use this information to deliver our webpages to you upon request, to tailor our Sites to the interests of our users and to measure traffic within our Sites.
• Demographic Information – “Demographic Information” may be your gender, age, zip code and interests, which you voluntarily provide to us on the Sites. We use this information to provide you with personalized services and to analyze trends to ensure the information provided by the Sites meets your needs. Please note that we also consider aggregated information, which is not personally identifiable, to be non-personally identifiable information.

We collect non-personally identifiable information from all visitors to our Sites. If you do not want Petfinder to have access to this information, please do not visit our Sites.

B. Tools We Use

We use tracking tools such as cookies, web beacons and other technologies to serve you with interest-based advertising and to better understand your behaviors and browsing activities. We might permit third parties, including third party advertisers, to gather information passively on our websites, including for behavioral advertising purposes. We collect personal information about users over time and across different Web sites when you use this Web site or service. We also have third parties that collect personal information this way. You can opt-out of online behavioral advertising by going to www.aboutads.info/choices.

You can control cookies and tracking tools. Your browser may give you the ability to control cookies. How you do so depends on the type of cookie. Certain browsers can be set to reject browser cookies. If you block cookies on your browser, certain features on our sites may not work. If you block or delete cookies, not all of the tracking that we have described in this policy will stop. Some browsers have a “Do Not Track” feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. These features are not yet uniform, so we are not currently set up to respond to those signals.

• Cookie – A “cookie” is a small text file that may be used to collect information about your activity on the Sites. For example, when someone visits a page within the Sites, a cookie is placed on the user’s machine (if the user accepts cookies) or is read if the user has visited the Sites previously. . Please check your browser to determine where these types of cookies are stored and how they may be deleted. Some of the cookies we use may be flash cookies or Adobe cookies and depending on your browser these cookies may not normally be deleted when your cookies are deleted. To control flash cookies, you can go here.
• Web Beacons (also known as “clear gifs,” “web bugs” or “pixel tags”) – “Web Beacons” are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to allow us to count users who have visited certain pages of the Sites and to help determine the effectiveness of promotional or advertising campaigns. When used in HTML-formatted email messages, web beacons can tell the sender whether and when the email has been opened. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on web pages.

You can control tools on your mobile devices. For example, you can turn off the GPS locator or push notifications on your phone for some of our mobile apps that might have such notifications.

C. How We Use Information Collected Via the Sites

(1) Personally Identifiable Information. We use your personally identifiable information that is collected on these Sites primarily for the following purposes:

• To deliver services, such as adoption applications, educational programs, information, newsletters or software you request or purchase;
• To alert you to special offers, updated information and other new services from Petfinder, or other third parties, or to forward promotional materials;
• To complete a transaction or service requested by you;
• To fulfill the terms of a promotion;
• To ensure the Sites are relevant to your needs;
• To help us create and publish content most relevant to you;
• To notify you about a material change to this privacy policy, if necessary;
• To allow you access to limited-entry areas of the Sites; and
• To contact you in response to sign up forms such as Contact Us or Order Inquiry.

(2) Non-Personally Identifiable Information

Non-personally identifiable information is used as described above and in other ways as permitted by applicable laws.

C. Sharing and Disclosure of Information

(1) Personally Identifiable Information

We may share or disclose your personally identifiable information in the following instances:

(i) To fulfill a service to you. For example, if you choose to watch an educational program on the Sites, we may share your personally identifiable information in order to provide the program to you. In addition, if you email us a question, we may use your email address to process your request and respond to your question. Also, if you are entering a sweepstakes or contest, we may use your personally identifiable information in order to fulfill the terms of that promotion. This means that we may share the information for prize fulfillment purposes or mail carriers. We also may share your information with the co-sponsor of that promotion.

(ii) To subsidiaries, affiliates, strategic partners, agents, third party marketers or other unaffiliated parties who are offering products or services that we believe may be of interest to you or who require your personally identifiable information for research, administrative and/or internal business purposes. These parties may use your personally identifiable information to contact you with an offer or advertisement related to a product or service, or they may use such information for their own research, administration or business purposes. If you do not want us to share your personally identifiable information in this manner, please do not provide us with this information.

(iii) To unaffiliated third-party service providers, agents or independent contractors who help us maintain our Sites and provide other administrative services to us (including, but not limited to, order processing and fulfillment, providing customer service, maintaining and analyzing data, sending customer communications on Petfinder’s behalf, and entry collection, winner selection and prize fulfillment for contests, sweepstakes and other promotions). We seek to ensure that these unaffiliated third parties will not use the personally identifiable information for any other purpose than to provide the administrative services for which they are responsible. Because such unaffiliated third-party service providers that help us administer our Sites will have access to users’ personally identifiable information, if you do not wish for our unaffiliated third-party service providers to have access to your information, please do not register or submit any personally identifiable information to us.

(iv) To complete your purchase. If you choose to make a purchase on the Sites, we may collect from you your credit card number, billing address and other information related to such purchase, and we may use such collected information in order to fulfill your purchase. We may also provide such information, or other personally identifiable information provided by you, to unaffiliated third parties as necessary to complete your purchase (for example, to process your credit card).

(v) To comply with the law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the requirements of law or comply with legal process served on us, protect and defend our rights or property, including the rights and property of Petfinder and its family of Sites or act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of our end users.

(vi) To third parties as part of any corporate reorganization process including, but not limited to, mergers, acquisitions, and sales of all or substantially all of our assets.

(vii) To track and analyze non-identifying and aggregate usage and volume statistical information from our visitors and customers and provide such information to third parties.

(viii) To protect against potential fraud, we may verify with third parties the information collected from these Sites. In the course of such verification, we may receive personally identifiable information about you from such services. In particular, if you use a credit card or debit card to purchase services with us, we may use card authorization and fraud screening services to verify that your card information and address matches the information that you supplied to us, and that the card has not been reported as lost or stolen.

(2) Non-Personally Identifiable Information

We use non-personally identifiable information collected on the Sites in the manner disclosed above, in the Section A (2). We may share this non-personal information with third parties.

D. International Transfer of Information

If you choose to provide us with personally identifiable information, Petfinder may transfer that information to its affiliates and subsidiaries or to other third parties, across borders, and from your country or jurisdiction to other countries or jurisdictions around the world. If you are visiting from the European Union or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, please note that you are transferring your personally identifiable information to the United States which does not have the same data protection laws as the EU and by providing your personally identifiable information you consent to:

• the use of your personally identifiable information for the uses identified above in accordance with this privacy policy; and
• the transfer of your personally identifiable information to the United States as indicated above.

E. Personally Identifiable Information Collected Offline

If you have provided us with personal information offline ( such as at a pet adoption event, or entry into an in-person sweepstakes, for example) and this privacy policy is referenced at the information collection point, we will use your personal information in the same manner and for the same purposes set forth herein as if you supplied it online.

F. How to Opt-Out and Edit Information

We provide you the opportunity to exercise an opt-out choice if you do not want to receive promotional communications from us, such as emails or updates from us regarding new services and products offered on this Site or if you do not want us to share your personally identifiable information with third parties.

To stop receiving our promotional emails, follow the instructions in any promotional message you get from us or contact our Office of Consumer Affairs. Even if you opt out of getting marketing messages, we will still send you transactional messages. These include responses to your questions or information about your account or purchases. If you would prefer that we do not share your information with third parties, please contact our Office of Consumer Affairs.

You can edit information we maintain. To update or correct information we have about you, please contact our Office of Consumer Affairs. Some of our sites may also let you modify your account profile.

G. Forums, Chat Rooms and Other Public Posting Areas

Please note that any information you include in a message you post to any chat room, forum or other public posting area is available to anyone with Internet access. If you don’t want people to know your e-mail address, for example, don’t include it in any message you post publicly. PLEASE BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN DISCLOSING ANY INFORMATION IN CHAT ROOMS, FORUMS AND OTHER PUBLIC POSTING AREAS. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE BY OTHERS OF THE INFORMATION THAT YOU DISCLOSE IN CHAT ROOMS, FORUMS AND OTHER PUBLIC POSTING AREAS.

H. Third Party Web Sites

This statement applies solely to information collected on the Sites. The Sites may contain links to other web sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these other web sites.

I. Third Party Advertisers

We may use advertisers, third party ad networks, and other advertising companies, to serve advertisements on the Sites. Please be advised that such advertising companies may gather information about your visit to the Sites or other sites (such as through cookies, web beacons and other technologies) to enable such advertising companies to market products or services to you, to monitor which ads have been served to your browser and which webpages you were viewing when such ads were delivered. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices please click here. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POLICY DOES NOT COVER THE COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION BY SUCH ADVERTISING COMPANIES.

J. Assignment

In the event that all or part of our assets or sold or acquired by another party, or in the event of a merger, you grant us the right to assign the personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information collected via the Sites.

K. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy from time to time. When we do, we will also revise the “last update” date at the bottom of this privacy policy. For changes to this privacy policy that may be materially less restrictive on our use or disclosure of personal information you have provided to us, we will attempt to obtain your consent before implementing the change by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your account or by placing a prominent notice on the Sites.

We will also notify parents if we change the kinds of information that we collect from kids and materially alter our practices of sharing and using this information. We will not collect, use or share the information without parental consent.

L. Security

No data transmissions over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Consequently, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you understand that any information that you transfer to Petfinder is done at your own risk. We make reasonable efforts to ensure security on our systems

M. THESE SITES AND CHILDREN; AGE SCREENING

Some parts of the Sites will have an age-screening mechanism to prevent kids from registering. We won’t knowingly allow anyone under the age of thirteen to register with any of our Sites, or to access those features that require registration. If you are a parent or legal guardian and think your child has given us information, you can email us or write to us at the address listed below. Please mark your inquiries “COPPA Information Request”.

If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personally identifiable information from a user under the age of thirteen, we will delete the information from our records as soon as we discover it.

N. Contacting Petfinder

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us at privacyquestions@petfinder.com.. You can also write to us at: Nestle Purina PetCare Company, Attn: Petfinder Privacy Question- Legal Department, Checkerboard Square, St. Louis 63164. All information you provide in any written communication will also be covered by this policy.

To contact our Office of Consumer Affairs, please email us at Office of Consumer Affairs or write to us at:

Nestlé Purina PetCare Company
Office of Consumer Affairs
Checkerboard Square
St. Louis, MO 63164

O. YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

If you are a California resident, you may have the right to request and receive certain information about our disclosure of your personal information to third parties for their own marketing use, and your choices with respect to such disclosures. Because we do not share your personal information with third parties for their own marketing use unless you are first given the opportunity to opt-in or out, we are exempt from having to meet this requirement. If you still wish to learn more about our compliance with this requirement, you may contact our Office of Consumer Affairs.

Last Updated On: February 3, 2014