privacy policy
- Your privacy is protected at Goodreads
- You control your personal information
- You can end your membership at any time
- We will never disclose your personal information to any third party unless you expressly authorize us to do so
- We do not send members unsolicited emails
If you have any questions regarding the full privacy statement below, or any questions or comments at all, please contact us directly.
What types of information does Goodreads collect?
The minimum information we require for a membership on Goodreads is your name, password, and email address. In addition, we encourage members to add more information about themselves that they can then share with friends. Examples include date of birth, location (postal code & country), and photos. You can modify or delete any of this information anytime in the My Account section of the website after you have signed in using your personal password.
We collect and store certain technical and other information about the online activities of our users — whether or not they are registered — on an aggregated (or collective) basis. This includes your IP address, browser type, and operating system. Goodreads does not use this information to identify you or to match it with your testing activities. We do, however, track the number of people who view each page, and other site usage data, in order to learn which features are the most popular and thereby improve our service. We also record statistical information collected on our site to better understand our audience. This information is recorded as anonymous group statistical information and is not connected to any personal information unless you register as an Goodreads member.
How does Goodreads use or disclose my information?
Goodreads never discloses your personal information to any third party unless you have instructed us to do so. We let you store it on our site so you can share it with who you wish.
Your email address and name are used when a member invites another person via email to join Goodreads, or when a member requests to add another member to their friends list. Your mail address may also be used in private correspondence with you for customer service issues. We may also use your email address to send you news regarding our site, but you may choose not to receive email of this type by going to My Account.
Goodreads may develop special sites in cooperation with other companies. If you register at these "co-branded" sites, we share your registration information (such as name and email address) with that company.
Our business is about building a long-term relationship with you. To build that trust, we know that as you spend time on our site and with our email newsletters, your personal information must remain within your control. Therefore, unless you give us your express permission, except if we believe in good faith that the law requires it, that disclosure is necessary to respond to a subpoena, warrant, or court order, or to protect the rights of Goodreads or others, we will not share your personal information with unauthorized third parties. We have currently not received any such warrants, and intend to resist any we do receive. We consider your personal information to be exactly that — yours. And we will do our best to protect it!
How do I control or change my information?
You may access or change your information at any time in your My Account area once you have signed in with your personal password.
If you want to change your email settings, for instance, change the frequency with which you receive Goodreads Friends' Reviews email, simply go to My Account. If you do not want to receive any emails from us or your friends, you should delete your Goodreads membership.
Do you send unsolicited emails or direct mail?
Goodreads absolutely, positively does not use the emails it collects as a source for unsolicited emails.
How does Goodreads keep my information secure?
The privacy of our members is a top priority. We keep your information secure in three ways:
Technology — At Goodreads, we use state of the art firewalls and database protection equipment and software.
Password-protection — Your Goodreads profile is password-protected so that you are the only member who has access to this information. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. We also recommend that you log out of your account when you're done using the service, especially if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place, such as a library or Internet cafe.
Limited access inside the Goodreads Team — Access to members' personal information is strictly limited, even inside the small Goodreads team, comprising only a small number of engineers and customer relationship employees. A customer care employee will handle your personal information only to respond to your communication or to better understand our audience to help with our editorial direction. The engineers on our Security Team handle personal information when they maintain our site and email system. Every member of the Goodreads team is subject to stringent confidentiality requirements. Any member information disseminated outside of the Goodreads Team is anonymous and aggregated.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, Goodreads cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or from our online products or services, and you do so at your own risk.
What are cookies and how does Goodreads use them?
A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive, then sent back to the server by your browser each time you access certain sections of the site. Cookies allow us to pre-fill the your email address in the Sign In page, so you don't have to re-enter it.
Like many sites on the Web, Goodreads uses cookies to store and track information about you when you're on our site so that we can better provide personalized services that better match your needs and interests. We also use cookies to assess which features on the site are popular among our users.
What privacy policies cover the ads on your site?
Someday, we may have ads on Goodreads, and if so, we also may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads on our site. These companies 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.
Changes to the Goodreads Privacy Policy
This policy may change from time to time. If we make any material changes to the policy in the future with regard to how we use your information, we will notify you on our homepage and in a change of service email.
What happens to my information if Goodreads is sold to or merges with another company?
While Goodreads will endeavor to require the successor company to maintain this privacy policy, we cannot guarantee that our policy will remain unchanged if Goodreads is sold or merges with another company. We will use our best efforts to notify you by email if such a merger or acquisition occurs. As always, in the event of a merger or acquisition, you will be able to delete or edit your profile at Goodreads.
What if I'm a resident outside of the U.S.?
Like almost every Web site, Goodreads is accessed by people all over the world, in different countries with different laws. By visiting our Web site and providing us with data, you acknowledge and agree that your personal information may be processed for the purposes identified in this policy. In addition, such data may be stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction, which may have less stringent privacy practices than your own. By providing us with your data, you consent to the transfer of such data.
What else should I know about my privacy?
Please be careful and responsible whenever you're online. Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information. The few Goodreads employees who have access to personal data of our members are trained to comply with the above privacy policy and made aware of any updates or modifications.
If you have any questions regarding the full privacy statement below, or any questions or comments at all, please contact us