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Company Info -
Yahoo! How-to
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| Yahoo!'s Policies on Privacy |
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Yahoo! takes seriously the issue of safeguarding your privacy online. Please read the following
to understand our views and practices regarding this matter, and how they pertain to you as you
make full use of our many offerings. This statement discloses the privacy practices for the
entire Web site.
Frequent Asked Questions
Does Yahoo! ask for personal information? Yes, we do. Yahoo! asks for your name, email address, and other personal information when you sign up for our services, such as Yahoo! Mail, My Yahoo!, or Yahoo! Chat. We also ask for such information at other times, such as whenever you enter sweepstakes or other promotions sponsored by Yahoo! and/or our many partners.
How Does Yahoo! use my personal information? Yahoo!'s goal in collecting personal information is to provide you, the user, with the most personalised web experience possible and our advertisers with an efficient means to reach the right audience. By knowing a little about you, Yahoo! is able to deliver more relevant content and advertisements, and hence a better service, to you. In our role of delivering targeted advertisements, Yahoo! plays the middleman. Advertisers give us an ad and tell us the type of audience they want to reach (for example, males over 35 years old). Yahoo! takes the ad and displays it to users meeting that criteria. In this process, the advertiser never has access to individual account information. Only Yahoo! has access to individuals' accounts.
Yahoo! Gear
What if I make a purchase through a store hosted by Yahoo! Store or a merchant listed in the Yahoo! Shopping Guide? If you place an order at a store hosted by Yahoo! Store or a merchant listed in the Yahoo! Shopping Guide, we will collect information from you, including your credit card and contact information. This information will be used by the merchant. Yahoo! does not own these businesses and all transactions and use of any customer information are the sole responsibility of the merchant. For further information regarding the merchant's use of customer information, contact that store or merchant directly. For information regarding Yahoo!'s use of personal information, please see: Will Yahoo! disclose any of my personal information? For additional information regarding Yahoo! Stores, please see our Frequently Asked Questions for Customers of Yahoo! Stores.
Will Yahoo! disclose any of my personal information? Yahoo! will not disclose any of your personal information, except as described below, or when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or to protect the rights or property of Yahoo!. Yahoo! does disclose personal information in some limited circumstances, but this is specifically described to you when we collect the information, such as in a Terms of Service or Use agreement, or in the rules of sweepstakes or other promotions. Under confidentiality agreements, Yahoo! may match user information with third party data. Also, Yahoo! does disclose aggregated user statistics (for example, 45% of our users are female) in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes. Additionally, if you make a purchase from a store hosted by Yahoo! Store, or a merchant listed in the Yahoo! Shopping Guide, the information obtained during your visit to those stores, and the information that you give such as your credit card number and contact information, is provided to the merchants. These merchants have separate privacy and data collection practices. Yahoo! has no responsiblity or liability for these independent policies. For more information regarding the merchant, their store, and their privacy policies, return to that store's home page and click on their Information link.
Will Yahoo! use my information for direct mailings? Yes, but only if you give us permission. We will send you information about our various products and services, or other products and services we feel may be of interest to you. Only Yahoo! (or agents working on behalf of Yahoo! and under confidentiality agreements) will send you these direct mailings. If you do not want to receive such mailings, simply tell us when you give us your personal information. Or, at any time you can easily edit your Yahoo! Account Information such that you no longer receive such offers and mailings. You will need your Yahoo! ID and Password in order to access your Yahoo! Account Information.
What about kids? Naturally, the safety of children is very important to us. Kids should always ask parents for permission before sending personal information to Yahoo!, or to anyone online for that matter. Parents, please keep in mind that the personal information we gather from children under the age of 16 is used for editorial and feedback purposes, or for any purposes specifically described when the information is collected. Except for the information sent to members of Club Yahooligans, we will not send any direct mailings to persons who indicate they are under 16 without first obtaining their parents permission.
Does Yahoo! use cookies and "IP Addresses"? Yes, cookies are used on Yahoo! in various ways. (1) We use cookies to be reminded of who you are and to access your account information (stored on our computers) in order to deliver to you a better and more personalised service. This cookie is set when you register or "Sign In" and is erased when you "Sign Out" of our services. Yahoo! also uses cookies to store your Zip Code for other services, such as Yellow Pages and Get Local. (2) Cookies are used in Yahoo! Stores to help the merchant track visits to and business at its store and process the items in your shopping basket. The information is collected by cookies is sometimes called "clickstream" or "click trail" data and may also describe where you've been in each merchant's store. (3) Cookies are also used to estimate our audience size. Each browser accessing Yahoo! is given a unique cookie which is then used to determine repeat usage versus initial usage, and to help in targeting ads based on user interests. (4) Lastly, advertising networks that serve ads onto Yahoo! may also use cookies. IP Addresses Yahoo! collects IP addresses for the purposes of system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers.
What else should I know about my privacy? Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online - for example on message boards, through email, or in chat areas - that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Furthermore, while we strive to protect your personal information, Yahoo! cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. In addition, Yahoo! partners and third party Internet sites and services accessible through Yahoo! or parties whom we inform you are collecting data in connection with sweepstakes, promotions, etc., have separate privacy and data collection practices, independent of us. Yahoo! has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies or actions. The point? You are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you're online. Please note: once an account is created, we will send you a confirmation email acknowledging your new account to the address that you supplied us. This email will give you the option to delete your account, in case you change your mind or in case you were not the one who created it in the first place. You should keep the confirmation email as it will also contain information that will help you in case you run into problems access our services. For more information...
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