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AOL Privacy Policy

 
Last updated:  June 19, 2017
 
At Oath, it’s our mission to provide users with rich, interactive online experiences.  Our websites, apps, and other services are designed to keep you informed, entertained and delighted.  We also operate some of the industry’s best-known advertising services, including ONE by AOL advertising services. 

We’re always working to make our services even better.  One of the ways we do that is by analyzing information we collect and receive about users in order to figure out what they might be interested in.  This helps us develop more engaging content and to provide more effective advertising, which enables us to keep most of our services free. 

This Privacy Policy describes how we handle the information we collect and receive about users.  There are three things you should keep in mind as you read it: 

 
  • First, the Privacy Policy applies to Oath services that link to or refer to this Privacy Policy.  These services include websites, mobile apps, other online services and anything else that links to or refers to this policy.  To keep things simple, we refer to all these services as “our Services.” 
  • Second, the Privacy Policy applies no matter what computer or device you use to access our Services. 
  • Third, we may provide additional information about the privacy practices of some of our Services.  Although this Privacy Policy applies to all Oath services that refer or link to it, you should read the additional information, too.  Some of this information is linked from various places in the Privacy Policy, and some is available through the individual Services that you use. 
We’ve done our best to keep this Privacy Policy short and simple, but if you have any questions about it, we hope you’ll let us know. 

Information We Collect and Receive
We collect and receive information about users in a few different ways: 

 
  • Information you give us.  You can give us information directly.  For example: 
    • When you sign up for an AOL account you may give us information such as your name, zip or postal code, and date of birth;
    • When you purchase one of our paid services, you give us your billing information, which may include your credit card data;
    • When you post comments in response to a story or video on any of our Services, we—and other users—receive that information; and
    • When you otherwise contact us or provide us information directly.
  • Information we collect or receive when you use our Services.  We also collect or receive information about how you use our Services.  We collect some of this information using cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies.  Depending on how you access and use our Services, we may receive: 
    • Log information.  This is information we automatically collect and store when you use our Services or other companies’ websites and apps in the ONE by AOL advertising services.  It includes, for example: 
      • Information about your interactions with the websites, apps, and other online services you use, the content you view, the search queries you submit, and information in cookies and similar technologies;
      • Information about how you access those websites, apps, and other online services, your browser or operating system, your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, and the website you visited before visiting our Services. 
    • Device information.  This is information we automatically collect and store about the device you use when you access our Services or the services in the ONE by AOL advertising services. (Note that by “device,” we mean anything you use to access our Services.  For more information about our privacy practices in connection with mobile devices, please review our Supplemental Mobile Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.)  Device information includes, for example: 
      • The type of device you’re using (e.g., an iPhone);
      • Certain device identifiers which may be unique to your device; and
      • Your Internet access provider. 
    • Location information.  This information can include, for example, your device’s GPS signal and information about nearby WiFi networks and cell towers.  We get this information when you use location-enabled services which can give you driving directions based on your current location. 
    • Other information.  Please note that Oath may use information about your use of certain Oath communication tools (for example, AOL Mail and AOL Instant Messenger); however, when you use Oath communication tools, Oath does not read your private online communications without your consent.
  • Information from third-party sources.  We may receive additional information about you that is publicly or commercially available and combine that with the information we have collected or received about you in other ways.  Also, we receive information about you when you choose to connect with social networking services while using our Services. 
Additionally, when you download the AOL client software, we may collect information about other software on your device for the limited purposes of improving the security of our services and enhancing your online experience. 

How We Use the Information We Collect and Receive
We use the information we collect and receive for the following general purposes:
  • To provide our Services.  Our ability to provide you with most of our Services depends on the information we collect and receive.  For example: 
    • If you sign up to receive the daily headlines from HuffPost, we’ll use your email address to deliver them to you; and
    • If you ask us to remember your login information for Oath websites, we’ll use information stored in cookies when you return to those websites. 
  • To improve our Services.  We collect information about how people use our Services so that we can provide content and advertising that people are likely to find relevant and engaging.  For example: 
    • If we notice that AOL.ca users in general prefer national political commentary, we might put that content in a special place on the website or in the app;
    • If we notice that a user is searching for sports cars on AOL Autos, we might show the user an ad for a sports car on AOL.ca or on other sites including ONE by AOL advertising services; and
    • If we receive information from users that a Service isn’t working properly, we may use that information to address any problem. 
  • To provide effective advertising.  Many of our Services are supported by advertising, and some of our Services provide advertising on our websites and apps, and on third-party websites and apps.  We use the information we collect and receive to make the advertising we provide more effective.  Some of the ways we do this are: 
    • Showing you ads based on your online activities, such as the websites and applications you use, the content you view, and the searches you submit on those applications
    • Limiting the number of times you see the same ad; and
    • Measuring the effectiveness of the ads we serve. 
Learn more about advertising and privacy on our Services.

How We Share the Information We Collect and Receive
We don’t rent or sell personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.  But we may share certain information we collect or receive with third parties to provide products and services you have requested, when we have your consent, or as described in this Privacy Policy. 

We may share information with:
  • Affiliates.  The information one Oath affiliate receives can be shared among other Oath affiliates.
  • Business partners.  We may share information with select business partners, who may use the information for a variety of purposes, including to provide you with relevant advertising. 
  • Other parties in response to legal process or when necessary to protect our Services.  We may disclose your information—including the contents of your communications with other parties—to other parties, such as when we have a reasonable good faith belief that: 
    • It is necessary to respond to lawful governmental requests or legal process (for example, a court order, search warrant, or subpoena); 
    • The information is relevant to a crime that has been or is being committed; 
    • An emergency exists that poses a threat to your safety or the safety of another person; or
    • It is necessary to protect the rights or property of Oath. 
  • Other parties in connection with certain business transactions.  In the event that the ownership of Oath (Canada) Corp. or an affiliate changes as a result of a merger, acquisition, or in the unlikely event of a bankruptcy, your information may be transferred to another company.  If a transfer results in a material change in the use of the information we’ve collected or received about you, you will be given the opportunity to opt out of the transfer.
Companies that Provide Services to Oath
Companies that provide services to us or act on our behalf may have access to information about you.  These companies include, but are not limited to, analytics providers, which are companies that help us understand how our Services are being used.  These companies are limited in their ability to use information they receive in the course of providing services to us.  Learn more about advertising and privacy on our Services.
 
Third Parties that Provide Content, Advertising Services, or Functionality on Our Services
Some of the content, advertising, and functionality on our Services may be provided by third parties that are not affiliated with us.  Such third parties include:
  • Advertising providers, which help us and our advertising customers provide ads that are tailored to users’ interests and understand how users respond to those ads; 
  • Audience-measurement companies, which help us measure the overall usage of our Services and compare that usage to other online services; and
  • Social networking services (like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google ) that enable you to login to certain of our Services and to share things you find on our Services with your social network. 
These and other third parties may collect or receive information about your use of our Services, including through the use of cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, and this information may be collected over time and combined with information collected on different websites and online services. 

Note that some of these companies participate in industry-developed programs designed to provide consumers with choices about whether to receive targeted ads.  To learn more, please visit the websites of the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada. Learn more about advertising and privacy on our Services.

If you choose to connect with a social networking service, like Facebook, we may share information with that service, and that service may share information about you with us.  We may use the information for the reasons explained in this Privacy Policy, but the main reason we use it is to make your experience on our Services more personal and social.  For example, we might show you what content is popular among your connections on the social networking service or give you a glimpse of what your friends are saying about that content. 

It’s important to remember that we don’t control the privacy practices of these (or any other) third-party services.  So we encourage you to read the privacy policies of the services before connecting to them. 

“Do Not Track” Signals
Some web browsers may transmit “do not track” signals to the websites and other online services with which the browser communicates.  There is no standard that governs what, if anything, websites should do when they receive these signals.  Oath currently does not take action in response to these signals.  If and when a standard for responding is established, Oath may revisit its policy on responding to these signals. 

Choices
You have a number of choices about how we handle your information:
  • If you’re a registered AOL user, you can access your registration information and any billing or shipping information and edit this information by visiting “My Account.”
  • If you’re a registered AOL user, you can visit AOL Marketing Preferences to review your marketing preferences and make choices about how your information may be used to provide marketing offers to you. Note that these preferences do not apply to communications that are directly related to your registration with AOL or the fulfillment of a specific transaction you have requested (for example, a service advisory from AOL or an acknowledgment of a purchase order).
  • Visit our Advertising, Analytics and Privacy page to learn more about your choices related to use of your information for online advertising.  You may opt out of receiving targeted ads from ONE by AOL.
  • Some of our Services (AOL Search and Netscape ISP, for example) may also offer you the ability to manage and control information collected or used when you use these services. 
  •  If you’re using a mobile device, please visit our Mobile Device Choices page for information about the choices we provide to mobile users. 
Our Commitment to Security
Although we can’t guarantee the security of the information we collect and receive, we do employ a number of safeguards intended to mitigate the risk of unauthorized access or disclosure of this information.  For example:
  • We store the data you provide in controlled facilities; 
  • We use HTTPS encryption when you authenticate (i.e., log into) one of our Services, which helps prevent unauthorized access to your login credentials;
  • We limit access to personal information to employees and third parties who need that access to perform their jobs for us; and
  • We provide company-wide training on privacy and data security.
The safeguards we apply to protect the information we collect and receive depends on the type of information and its sensitivity.   

Children's Privacy
Our Services are intended for a general audience.  We do not knowingly collect, use, or disclose personal information from children under the age of 13 without prior parental consent, except as permitted by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.  If you are a parent who consents to the collection of personal information from your child, you agree that your child may use all our Services and that we may collect, use, and disclose your child’s personal information consistent with this Privacy Policy.

If you have questions concerning our information practices with respect to children, or if you would like to review, have deleted, or stop the further collection of your child’s personal information, you may contact us:

 By mail:
 AOL Children's Online Privacy
 ATT: H4A:G10
 22000 AOL Way
 Dulles, VA 20166-9302
 
 By phone: (888) 206-6088
 By email

International users
Regardless of where you use our Services or otherwise provide information to us, the information may be transferred to and maintained on servers located in other countries, including in the U.S. Please note that any information we obtain about you will be stored in accordance with Canadian privacy laws, regulations, and standards, which may not be equivalent to the laws in your country of residence. By using our Services or by providing us with your information, you consent to this collection, transfer, storage, and processing of information.

How to Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or about Oath's privacy practices in general, please contact us.

Oath Global Privacy Leader  
22000 AOL Way
Dulles, VA 20166
CAPrivacyinfo@aol.com
 
Changes to This Privacy Policy and Additional Information
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and so you should review this Policy periodically. If there are significant changes to Oath's information practices, we will place a prominent notice on our site, or send a notice to the primary email address specified in your registered account, as applicable.