AOL

At AOL Inc. ("AOL"), our Members' privacy has always been one of our most important values. Please read AOL's Privacy Commitments to Members to understand our key objectives for protecting your privacy and security. Para leer este documento en español haz clic aquí.

This Privacy Policy explains our practices for collecting and handling your personal information as an AOL Member, as well as what choices you have about its use.

We believe that AOL's Privacy Commitments and Privacy Policy should give you confidence whenever you use the AOL Online Service.

AOL MEMBER PRIVACY POLICY

This policy covers personal information about you as a Member of the AOL Online Service ("the AOL Service," or "Service"), including the personal information we collect through the sites, services and software that we use to provide you our Service. Some of these offerings may provide you with additional information and choices about your privacy, which you should read if you take advantage of these offerings.

The AOL Member Privacy Policy does not apply to other companies' Web sites and services that you may access outside the AOL Service. The personal information collected or received by these other companies is subject to their own privacy policies.

Click the links below to learn about the following topics:

Collection of Your AOL Member Information

Your AOL Member information consists of personally identifiable information collected or received about you when you interact with the AOL Service, including AOL sites and pages, services, and software (collectively AOL Service "offerings"). Depending on how you use the AOL Service, your AOL Member information may include:

registration-related information (such as name, home or work addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers);
information about your visits to AOL sites and pages, and your responses to the offerings and advertisements presented on these sites and pages;
information about the searches you perform through the AOL Service and how you use the results of those searches;
information about the AOL Service offerings that you use, including AOL premium services, and how frequently you use them;
information about your AOL preferences (such as a zip code for localization purposes);
transaction-related information (such as credit card or other preferred means of payment, billing or shipping information, or a history of products purchased through the AOL Service);
customer service information about you as an AOL Member (such as account history, your or others' complaints, and your interactions with AOL support services online or by phone); or
other information specifically related to your use of a particular AOL Service offering.

Your AOL Member information may also include certain technical and diagnostic information gathered or received when you use the AOL Service. Some of the technical information that may be collected or received includes: the type of browser you are using (e.g., Netscape, AOL Explorer), the type of operating system you are using (e.g., Windows XP or Mac OS), CPU type (e.g. Pentium), the manner in which you connect to the Internet (e.g., connection speed through narrowband or broadband access); Internet protocol address; other information about your geographic location; or data relating to computer malfunctions or problems occurring when you use your computer with the AOL Service. Additionally, we may collect information about other software on your computer for the limited purpose of protecting your security or improving your online experience.

Your AOL Member information may be supplemented with additional information, including publicly-available information and information from other companies.

The AOL Service uses the Screen Name Service, or similar technologies, to authenticate you and enable you to take advantage of AOL Service offerings. You can learn more about other benefits of the Screen Name Service, including its ability to facilitate your use of Web sites outside the AOL Service, by visiting Screen Name Service.

How Your AOL Member Information Is Used

Your AOL Member information may be used:

to operate and improve the AOL Service and enhance your online experience;
to personalize the content and advertisements you receive;
to identify or re mediate possible threats to your safety, security, privacy, or to your computer's security;
to fulfill your requests for products, programs, and services;
to communicate with you and respond to your inquiries;
to conduct research about your use of the AOL Service; and
to help offer you other products, programs, or services that may be of interest.

AOL does not rent or sell your AOL Member information (such as name, address, telephone number, screen name and credit card information) to third parties. We may share AOL Member information in order to jointly present you offers with or on behalf of our business partners, but we do not allow these partners to use your AOL Member information for any other purpose. Except for these joint offers, AOL will only share your AOL Member information with third parties to provide products and services you have requested, or when we have your consent

AOL does not read your private online communications when you use AOL Service communications tools (for example, AOL Service e-mail or AOL instant messenger), except in the limited circumstances described in this Privacy Policy. Please remember, however, that if you use these tools to disclose information about yourself publicly (for example, in public chat rooms or online message boards on AOL), other online users may obtain access to any information you provide.

Your AOL Member information, including the contents of your private online communications, may be accessed and disclosed in response to legal process (for example, a court order, search warrant or subpoena); in other circumstances in which AOL believes the AOL Service is being used in the commission of a crime; when we have a good faith belief that there is an emergency that poses a threat to the safety of you or another person; or when necessary either to protect the rights or property of AOL, or for us to render the service you have requested.

AOL may use agents and contractors in order to help operate the AOL Service. We require agents and contractors that have access to AOL Member information to protect this information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy, and prohibit them from using the information for any purpose other than to carry out the services they are performing for the AOL Service.

In the event that ownership of the AOL Service was to change as a result of a merger, acquisition, or transfer to another company, your AOL Member information may be transferred. If such a transfer would result in a material change in the use of your AOL Member information, we will provide notice about the choices you have to decline to permit such a transfer.

Your Choices About Your AOL Member Information

The AOL Service allows you to access your registration, billing or shipping information, and edit this information through AOL Keyword: My Account. Additionally, some AOL Service offerings (AOL Search for example) allow you to control what information is collected or used when you use that offering. Visit AOL Keyword: Settings to learn more.

You can also make choices about how your AOL Member information may be used by the AOL Service to provide marketing offers to you:

You may choose not to receive marketing offers from AOL by U.S. mail.
You may choose not to receive marketing offers from AOL by telephone.
You may choose not to receive marketing offers from AOL by e-mail.
You may choose not to receive marketing offers through online pop-ups from AOL.

In order to do so, please visit AOL Keyword: Marketing Preferences or AOL Keyword: Choice to review your AOL Service marketing preferences. These preferences do not apply to communications that are related to your AOL Membership, or the fulfillment of a specific transaction you have requested (for example, a service advisory from the AOL Service, or an acknowledgment of a purchase order). Similarly, these preferences do not apply to the sharing of information necessary to provide the basic functionality of the AOL Service, or information necessary to carry out your requests or specific transactions.

Because the choices you make in connection with your AOL Member information may not take effect immediately, it is possible you may receive a communication during the period in which your request is being processed.

Cookies and Web Beacons

The AOL Service may use cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies in combination with your AOL Member information to enhance and personalize your experience on the AOL Service, including to operate and improve offerings through the AOL Service; to help authenticate you when you use the AOL Service; to remember your preferences and registration information; to enable a shopping cart; to present and help measure and research the effectiveness of AOL Service offerings, advertisements, and e-mail communications (by determining which AOL Service e-mails you open and act upon); and to customize the content and advertisements provided to you through the AOL Service.

The AOL Service and its advertisers may also use ad network providers and other service providers, including AOL subsidiaries such as Advertising.com and TACODA, to help present customized content and advertisements on the AOL Service and other Web sites. These providers may use cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies on your computer to help present, better target, and measure the effectiveness of their content and advertisements, using data gathered over time and across their networks of Web pages to determine or predict the characteristics and preferences of their audience. The AOL Service may share certain non-personally identifiable information about you as an AOL Service Member (such as age or zip code) with certain ad network and service providers, including Advertising.com and TACODA, to help them deliver more relevant content and advertisements through their networks. The use of cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies by Advertising.com, TACODA, and other content and ad network providers is subject to their own privacy policies, not the AOL Service's. Click here to learn more about third party content and ad network providers and the choices you have about these technologies.

Our Commitment to Security

There are many ways for you to access the AOL Service or other AOL offerings, including through high speed and wireless connections provided by AOL or other companies. AOL offers you a robust set of tools to help you prevent others from gaining access to your personal information, as well as to help protect against other threats to the security of your online experience. Please visit AOL Keyword: Safety to learn what you can do to help safeguard your safety, security, and privacy.

To help protect the AOL Member information you provide to AOL, we use a variety of safeguards, including

technical, administrative, and physical controls (such as restricted access facilities, intrusion prevention and detection systems, and dedicated security personnel and incident response teams)
encryption and authentication systems
passwords, and an Account Security Question to help verify your identity when making corrections to your AOL Member information; and
agreements with contractors and vendors requiring them to protect the confidentiality, safety, and security of AOL Member information

Each and every AOL employee must acknowledge that they understand and will comply with the AOL Privacy Policy. AOL authorizes its employees to obtain access to AOL Member information only to perform their particular functions, and uses technological and other control procedures to help limit such access. Employees who violate our policies and practices are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination, or prosecution.

AOL has established these safeguards to help prevent unauthorized access to or misuse of your AOL Member information, but cannot guarantee that your personally identifiable information will never be disclosed in a manner inconsistent with this Privacy Policy (for example, as a result of unauthorized acts by third parties that violate applicable law or the policies of the AOL Service and its affiliates).

Your AOL Member information may be collected and stored in the United States or other countries.

Personal Financial Information

The following notice explains the AOL Service's practices with respect to the use of personal financial information, such as AOL Portfolios ("AOL Service financial features"). By using AOL Service financial features, you agree to receive future notices required under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act through the continuous posting of this Privacy Policy online.

We collect your personal information to provide certain AOL Service offerings that you request. To use the portfolio feature on the AOL Service, for example, you specify the types of stocks and funds you wish to monitor, the names of the particular stocks of interest to you, and their purchase price ("portfolio information"). To give you updated information when you use these features, AOL Service servers automatically collect and store the portfolio information that you provide. Similarly, if you use a Wallet service to facilitate transactions on third party sites, you provide the AOL Service with information including your name, credit card, and shipping addresses ("wallet information").

The AOL Service does not disclose portfolio or wallet information to third parties other than in the limited circumstances permitted by law (for example, in response to legal process), or when you ask us to disclose the information (for example, when you request that the AOL Service share wallet information in order to facilitate a purchase on a third party web site). This policy does not apply, however, to financial information that you provide to another company in connection with your use of their sites or offerings.

If you click through a banner advertisement on the portfolio or wallet features, and identify yourself to the advertiser (for example, by placing an order), the advertiser may be able to tell that you use that feature. No portfolio or wallet information is shared with the advertiser unless you request it.

Only employees and contractors who need to know this information in order to provide this service to you are authorized to access portfolio or wallet information.

Protecting Children

Young people need special safeguards and privacy protection. We realize they may not understand all the provisions of our policy or be able to make thoughtful decisions about the choices available to adult members. So we have special privacy practices to protect kids using areas on the service specifically designed for them, including the KOL service. We urge all parents to educate their children about online safety and the need to protect their personal information.

In areas on the service designed for children 12 and under, AOL and its partners require verifiable parental consent (for example, by sending in a permission form by regular mail or by fax) to collect or use names, addresses, telephone numbers or other information that identifies a child offline. In addition, for children to use screen names on the AOL service, we require parental (master account) consent at the time the sub account screen name is created. We do this so that parents are aware of and consent to how their children may use their screen names; for example, using the screen name to request an online newsletter, to post a message on a message board or to participate in a chat room. Please read our important note to parents (Keyword: Note to Parents) to learn more about AOL's practices regarding children's online privacy.

Another way parents can control their child's experience online is AOL's Parental Controls (Keyword: Parental Controls). These simple, flexible tools allow parents to customize content and functionality to their child's maturity level.

We encourage all parents to use their master account to create separate screen names for each child (because one master account may have up to seven screen names). This allows the parent to customize AOL to their child's maturity level and content needs: Kids Only (recommended for children 12 and under); Young Teen (recommended for ages 13-15); or Mature Teen (recommended for ages 16-17).

Using Parental Controls, parents can also choose to activate the AOL Guardian feature to receive regular e-mail updates about their child's online activities using his or her AOL screen name, such as the Web sites that the child visited or attempted to visit; e-mail and Instant Message activity; or contacts in the child's address book and Buddy List.

AOL notifies both the parent's master account and the child's screen name when AOL Guardian is activated. AOL Guardian reports are intended solely for the parent's master account, and are not otherwise used or disclosed by AOL except in the limited circumstances described in this Privacy Policy.

Unsolicited e-mail is a problem for everyone, but it is particularly a problem for children. This includes mail that could contain content you may not want your children to see, or mail that may ask for information you would not want your children to give out.

If you want to minimize the unsolicited e-mail your children receive, you can use Mail Controls (Keyword: Mail Controls) to block all e-mail from the Internet or to select the e-mail addresses from which you wish to allow your children to receive e-mail. Remember that screen names and information volunteered by children and teens in public chat rooms, e-mail exchanges, message boards, the Member Directory, and other online communications are publicly available and may be used by other parties to generate unsolicited e-mail and for other purposes.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about the AOL Service's Privacy Policy or its implementation, or if you have a concern or policy violation you wish to report, you may contact us at the email address privacyquestions@aol.com, or by visiting Keyword: Privacy Questions.

Keeping You Informed about Changes to this Policy

The AOL Service may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and so you should review this Policy periodically. If we make minor changes or clarifications to this Policy, we will give you notice online through AOL, such as through the AOL Service Welcome page or on our main AOL Service Web sites and pages. If the Policy changes are substantial, we will notify you 30 days' in advance of such changes taking effect, such as through e-mails or online pop-up screens. You should sign on to your account regularly for these and other important announcements. You may be provided additional privacy-related information and choices in connection with your use of other offerings from the AOL Service, as well as for special features and services not described in this Policy that may be introduced in the future.

Additional Information

Your California Privacy Rights: California privacy law allows California residents to obtain specific disclosures about a business's privacy practices if it shares information with other companies for direct marketing purposes. To make a request to AOL under California's privacy law, please send an e-mail to the following AOL Screen Name: CAPrivacyInfo.

Updated: 07-13-2009

Sep	DEC	Jan
	22
2009	2010	2012