Protecting your privacy is important to us at The Search Agency. The following privacy policy covers The Search Agency's collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information of our clients and of users of our online services through the "Client Control Center" area of our website located at www.thesearchagency.com and www.thesearchagents.com (the "Site"). For the purposes of this privacy policy, "personal information" or "information" refers to identifying information such as your name, physical address, email address, telephone number, etc. This privacy policy is effective as of December 15, 2009. Please take a moment to read the following to learn about our information collection, storage, use, and disclosure practices.
Why Do We Collect Personal Information?
The Search Agency collects relevant personal information because it enables us to give clients convenient access to our services. In particular, personal information is used to create a client profile for clients who register to use our Client Control Center. The Client Control Center provides our clients with tools that help them analyze the performance of advertising campaigns and make adjustments to improve the results of those campaigns. In addition, the collected personal information allows us to notify our clients and other Site users of products and services that we think may be of interest.
Special Offers and Updates
We will occasionally send you information on products, services, special deals, promotions.
Out of respect for your privacy, we present the option not to receive these types of communications. Please see the “Choice and Opt-out.”
Choice/Opt-out
We provide you the opportunity to ‘opt-out’ of having your personally identifiable information used for certain purposes, when we ask for this information. For example, if you purchase a product/service but do not wish to receive any additional marketing material from us, you can indicate your preference on our order form.
If you no longer wish to receive our promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each communication or by emailing us at info(at)thesearchagency(dot)com with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line or you may contact us at 888 257-6736 or 3420 Ocean Park Blvd, Suite 2020 Santa Monica, CA 90405 to opt-out.
Blogs
If you use a bulletin board, blog, or chat room on this Web site, 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. We are not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums
What Personal Information Do We Collect?
Information You Give Us. We collect personal information from clients who choose to provide us with this information. For example, we obtain personal information when you register to use our Client Control Center. This information includes, for example, your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, relevant search engine account information, and security or access code/password. Site users and clients can choose not to provide us with certain personal information, but then they may not be able to access the Client Control Center or to fully take advantage of certain features of our Site.
When you use widgets to bookmark or share our products and Site, you will be taken to a third party site. These third party sites also collect additional information about third parties such as name and email address. Please note that their privacy policy governs the collection and use of the information collected on those sites.
Automatic Collection of Information.
Like many websites on the Internet, we employ the use of "cookies" in certain areas of our Site to allow us to provide information which is targeted to Site users and clients' interests. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to a user's browser from a Web server and stored on their computer's hard drive. We also use the cookies set in our client's websites in order to gather accurate client site tracking information (e.g. clicks, sign-ups, and revenues). We may link the information we store in cookies to the personally identifiable information you submit while on our Site, including your name and login ID. We use this information in order to provide services to our clients. You are always free to decline any cookies we use, if your browser permits.
We use third party companies to place cookies on your computer to collect non-personally identifiable information to compile aggregated statistics for us about visitors to our site.
Web Beacons
Our Web pages contain electronic images known as Web beacons (sometimes called single-pixel gifs) and are used along with cookies to compile aggregated statistics to analyze how our site is used and may be used in some of our emails to let us know which emails and links have been opened by recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of our customer communications and marketing campaigns.
Who is Collecting Your Information?
When you provide information through the Site, the information is transmitted through the Internet and stored on servers that The Search Agency owns and maintains. We do not share the information stored on our server with third parties unless our clients are informed in advance otherwise.
With Whom Do We Share Your Information?
Please note that The Search Agency does not share, sell, rent or trade personally identifiable information with third parties for their promotional purposes. With client permission, we may share information with third parties, such as search engine account managers, in order to provide our advertising services. Although we encourage such third parties to adopt and follow their own consumer privacy policies, we are not responsible for their collection, storage, use, or disclosure of your information. Please note that the information practices of those third parties are not covered by this privacy policy. You should refer to the privacy policies and statements of relevant third parties or contact the respective Webmasters of those websites to obtain information regarding their information collection, storage, use, and disclosure practices.
In addition, we will share the personal information we collect from you under the following circumstances:
Protection of Rights
We will release user information: (1) to third parties (i.e. search engine account managers, with your permission, in order to optimize your advertising campaigns); (2) if we believe the law requires it or in response to any demand by law enforcement authorities to comply with legal process, such as court order or subpoena; (3) if we believe such action is appropriate to enforce the Terms of Use for the Site; or (4) if we believe such action is appropriate to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of The Search Agency, its employees, other Site users, or others.
Asset Transfers
If we chose to sell some or all of our assets, user information, including the information collected from you, could be included in the transferred assets.
Independent Contractors
We may share the information with independent contractors that we hire from time to time in connection with the performance of our advertising services, the operation of the Site, or other operation(s) related to our business. From time to time, we may disclose in published research reports information, in aggregated form, that we collect from you.
Control of Your Information
You can correct, update, or delete the information that you provide The Search Agency by accessing your account through the Client Control Center or sending an email to privacypolicy(at)thesearchagency(dot)com We will respond to your request within 30 days. You may also send correspondence to our head office, located at 3420 Ocean Park Blvd., Suite 2020, Santa Monica, CA 90405, U.S.A.
The Search Agency is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent, organization whose mission is to build user’s trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy statement covers the Web site www.thesearchagency.com and www.thesearchagents.com. Because this Web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.
If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact our Webmaster at privacypolicy(at)thesearchagency(dot)com If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should contact TRUSTe at http://watchdog.truste.com/pvr.php?page=complaint&url= TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.
The Search Agency complies with the EU Safe Harbor framework as set forth by the Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union.
Dispute Resolution
The Search Agency participates in the EU Safe Harbor Privacy Framework as set forth by the United States Department of Commerce. As part of our participation in the safe harbor, we have agreed to TRUSTe dispute resolution for disputes relating to our compliance with the Safe Harbor Privacy Framework. If you have any complaints regarding our compliance with the Safe Harbor you should first contact us (as provided above). If contacting us does not resolve your complaint, you may raise your complaint with TRUSTe by Internet at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php, fax at 415-520-3420, or mail at Watchdog Complaints, TRUSTe, 55 2nd Street 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA, USA 94105. If you are faxing or mailing TRUSTe to lodge a complaint, you must include the following information: the name of company, the alleged privacy violation, your contact information, and whether you would like the particulars of your complaint shared with the company. For information about TRUSTe or the operation of TRUSTe's dispute resolution process, see http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php or request this information from TRUSTe at any of the addresses listed above. The TRUSTe dispute resolution process shall be conducted in English.
Security
The personal information that clients provide to The Search Agency is stored on servers, which are located in secured facilities with restricted access, and protected by protocols and procedures designed to ensure the security of such information. In addition, all of The Search Agency's personnel who have access to such information are trained in the maintenance and security of such information, and we limit access of such information by our employees to the information reasonably required in order to provide prompt, high quality service. However, no server, computer network or system, or data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect user information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or through our Site, and you provide such information to us and engage in such transmissions at your own risk. Once we receive a transmission from you, we will endeavor to maintain its security on our server.
The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number, national ID and personal health information) on our registration or order forms, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).
Children's Privacy
The Site is a general audience website and no portion of the Site is directed to children under the age of 13. We do not collect personal identifying information from any person we actually know is a child under the age of 13.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the home page, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our home page.
Summary
At The Search Agency, protecting your privacy is important to us. By accessing and using the Site, you consent to the collection, storage, use, and disclosure of information by The Search Agency as described in this privacy policy. This privacy policy is subject to change from time to time and we will post all changes on this page. If you have any questions concerning this privacy policy, please send an email to our Webmaster at privacypolicy(at)thesearchagency(dot)com.
