.us Community Blog & Forum: Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

This Policy was last updated on May 21, 2010. 

Neustar, Inc. (“Neustar”, “us” or “we”) takes the privacy and protection of personal information of its website users seriously.  This Privacy Policy is intended to inform you of Neustar’s policies and practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of information we receive from users of the .us Community Blog & Forum (the “Site”).

The Site is based in the United States and information we collect from users of the Site by email or through the Site will be stored on our servers in the United States.  Users of the Site should be aware that our Privacy Policy is designed to comply with United States law and that the data privacy laws of the United States may be less stringent than those of certain other countries.

Types of Information We Collect and Use

We collect and use certain “Personal Information” as well as “Non-Personal Information” regarding users of the Site.

“Personal Information” is information about you that is personally identifiable to you, like your name, address, email address, or phone number, as well as other non-public information that is associated with the foregoing. 

“Non-Personal Information” means information that is not directly associated with or linked to your Personal Information; Non-Personal Information does not permit the identification of individual persons. 

Your Consent to Our Collection, Use and Disclosure of Information We Collect

By using the Site or submitting Personal Information through our Site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and expressly consent to the collection, use, and sharing of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

The Site collects personally identifiable information only if you provide this information to us voluntarily. The voluntary information we collect is used for internal verification to assign a secure user name and password, and ensure appropriate legal use of the Site.

Notwithstanding anything else in this Privacy Policy, if you send us any information through the Site, you hereby authorize Neustar to use and disclose the information, including Personal Information, in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use governing this Site.  [link to Terms of Use]

Use of Information We Collect

We use Personal Information you submit to us (or to any third party that may support us in collecting information) for very limited purposes.  Specifically, we may use Personal Information to:

•    To send you periodic mailings to you about Neustar’s Site, products and/or services;
• To respond to inquiries or requests you may make;
• To provide products or services to you; and
• To help tailor our Site, products or services to meet your needs or needs of the .us Internet community.

Neustar may analyze any collected information for its own internal purposes.  In addition, we may remove individual identifiers from Personal Information that is collected so we can render the information Non-Personal Information.

Neustar may use Non-Personal Information for any purpose.

Sharing and Disclosure of Information We Collect

We may provide your Personal Information third-party service providers in connection with providing you with our Site, our products, our services, and/or information regarding our Site, products and/or services. 

We will disclose Personal Information in response to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.  We also may disclose Personal Information if we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities or fraud, situations involving the physical safety of any person, or as otherwise required by applicable law.

If our company or our assets are acquired by another company, or the .us domain name registry is transitioned to another administrator, that company may possess the Personal Information collected by us and the Personal Information will become subject to the successor company’s privacy policy.   

We may disclose Non-Personal Information at our discretion.

Personal Information Collected Via Technology

As you navigate the Site, certain information may also be passively collected and stored on our server logs, including your Internet protocol address, browser type, and operating system.  We also use “Cookies” (as defined below) and navigational data like Uniform Resource Locators (“URLs”) to gather information regarding the date and time of your visit and the solutions and information for which you searched and viewed.  This type of information is collected to make our Site, products and/or services more useful to you.

An “Internet protocol address” or “IP Address” is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet.  In some cases your IP Address stays the same from browser session to browser session; but if you use a consumer internet access provider, your IP Address probably varies from session to session. 

“Cookies” are small pieces of information that a web site sends to your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing a web site.  Neustar may use both session Cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent Cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on the Site.  Persistent Cookies can be removed by following your Internet browser “help” directions.  If you choose to disable Cookies, however, some areas of the Site may not work properly.

Bulletin Boards, Chat Rooms and Forums in General
 
If you use a forum, bulletin board, chat room or other chat tool on this Site to submit comments, you should be aware that any personally identifiable information you submit there can be read, collected, or used by other users of these forums, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. Neustar is not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums. You are also responsible for using these forums in a manner consistent with the other terms and conditions set forth on the relevant forum site.
Privacy of Minors

The Site is not directed at minors and we do not knowingly collect from or maintain any Personal Information regarding persons under the age of 13. 

Confidentiality and Security

We limit access to Personal Information about you to Neustar employees and to those third parties who we reasonably believe need access to that information to provide you with our Site, products or services or to otherwise perform their jobs relating to the Site, our products, or our services.  We have taken appropriate technical and organizational measures, as well as implemented physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards, to protect Personal Information collected from you and other users of the Site.  However, you should be aware that no company, including Neustar, can fully eliminate security risks associated with Personal Information.

Other Sites

Our provision of a link to any other website or location is for your convenience and does not signify our endorsement of such other website or location or its contents.  We have no control over, do not review, and cannot be responsible for these outside websites or their content.  Please be aware that the terms of our Privacy Policy do not apply to any websites other than the Site.

Email We May Send to You

We may periodically send you emails that promote or otherwise contain information relating to the use of our Site, products and/or services.  When you receive emails from us, you may indicate a preference to stop (“opt-out” of) receiving further emails from us by following the “unsubscribe” instructions provided in the email(s) you received.  Or you may indicate such a preference by sending an email to us at info@neustar.us.

Contacting Us

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us:
Info@neustar.us or write to us at:

Neustar, Inc.
46000 Center Oak Plaza
Sterling, VA. 20166
Attn: Legal

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Neustar may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.  We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat Personal Information by (a) sending a notice to your email address (if you have provided us your email address) or (b) by placing a notice on our Site. 
Any material changes to this Privacy Policy will be effective thirty (30) calendar days following such notice to prior users of the Site, and will be effective immediately for new users of the Site.  Continued use of our Site following notice of any such changes shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes.  Whenever we materially amend the Privacy Policy, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this statement.