NetZero, Inc. Privacy Statement

Overview

NetZero is committed to safeguarding your privacy online. NetZero created this Privacy Statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to protecting the privacy of subscribers to and users of the Services and of visitors and users of the Site. The following discloses how we gather and use information on the Site and while you use the Service. We use the information we collect about you to create a more personalized online experience. By using NetZero's Web site (the Site) or services (the Services), you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your information, as described below. Please read on for more details about our Privacy Policy. This policy may change from time to time so please check back periodically.

This Privacy Statement will explain the following regarding our Site and Service:

1. What personal identifying information (and other information) does NetZero collect from you?
2. Where do we collect information from you?
3. How is your information used?
4. Who is collecting your information?
5. With whom do we share your information?
6. How may you access or update your information?
7. How does NetZero protect your personal information?
8. A note about the privacy of children aged 13 to 18.
9. A special notice to parents about children under 13.
10. Use of Cookies.
11. Other information about your privacy while visiting and using the Site or using the NetZero Service.

What personal identifying information (and other information) does NetZero collect from you?

In order to provide its services, NetZero collects two types of information from its subscribers and visitors: personally identifiable information and aggregated information. Our primary goal in collecting information from you is to provide you with a smooth, efficient and customized experience while using our services.

• Personal Information We collect personal identifying information (including, but not limited to, name, address, phone number and e-mail address), demographic information (including, but not limited to, age, household size, income level, education level and gender), financial information (including, but not limited to, credit card information) and psychographic information (including, but not limited to, reason for Internet use, reason for use of NetZero and topics of interest to you) when you register for and use the NetZero Service and other NetZero programs.
  
  
• Non-Personal and Aggregated Information This refers to information that is not personally identifiable. We automatically gather certain information about you based upon your activity on the Site or the way you use the Service. We also collect machine data such as processor type, processor speed, operating system type, browser type, audio devices, modem devices, video cards and any software on your computer that may interact or interfere with our Software or Service. This information may include the web site's Uniform Resource Locator ("URL") that you just came from, which URL you next go to, what browser you are using, and your Internet Protocol ("IP") address. This information is compiled and analyzed on an aggregated basis. For instance, we may know that ten thousand people visit this Privacy Statement today, but we do not know their names or addresses so they are anonymous to us. NetZero also uses this information to do internal research on our visitors' demographics, interests and behavior to better understand and serve our visitors.

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Where do we collect information from you?

• We collect personal identifying information on the NetZero Site. We collect this, and other information, as part of NetZero's MyNetZero start page and, if you request, information regarding advertising services provided by NetZero or other information from the Investor Relations portion of our Site. We also collect information from visitors to our Site regarding the referring Uniform Resource Locator ("URL"), your Internet Protocol ("IP") address, which browser you used to come to the Site and the pages of our Site that you viewed during your visit. An URL is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. An IP address is an identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. TCP/IP stands for "Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol," and is the suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. Networks using the TCP/IP protocol route messages based on the IP address of the destination.
  
  
• NetZero Service. During the NetZero Service registration process we ask subscribers to provide personal identifying, demographic and psychographic information. The information you provide during registration is placed in your NetZero personal profile. You may access or change your NetZero personal profile information at any time. In addition, you may provide other personal identifying information and financial information, such as a credit card number and other credit card verification information if you choose to enter such information in order to purchase additional time on the Service or in order to use other NetZero Services. NetZero may update the information in your NetZero Personal Profile with information obtained through generally accepted methods of address verification. You may access your NetZero Personal Profile information at any time. See the section below entitled: "How may you access or update your information?"
  
  While you are using the NetZero Service or have our Software installed, we collect non-personally identifiable information including, without limitation, information regarding the Web sites you visit, your interactions with those sites, the telephone number used to log in to the Service and any software on your computer that may interact or interfere with our Software or Service. Our Service implements our own unique technology which builds a database of the types of sites you visit while you are online. This information is ultimately stored in the form of categories and, in some cases, specific URLs. We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our Service, servers and software, and to administer our Site.
  
  
• NetZero Distribution Program. The NetZero Distribution Program permits companies that meet certain guidelines to distribute the NetZero software. During the NetZero Distribution Program application process on the Site, prospective companies are asked to provide certain contact information (name, company name, e-mail, phone number, address, fax number), company information (type of business, years in business, etc.) and distribution information (planned use of software, projected distribution volume, prospective recipients).
  
  
• NetZero Now Program. The NetZero Now Program permits third party Web sites to place a hypertext link to the NetZero Web site so that visitors of their Web site can download the NetZero Internet access software. During the NetZero Now Program application process, Web site owners are asked to provide certain contact information (applicant's name, company name, e-mail) and information about their Web site (URL, traffic type and quantity, etc.).
  
  
• NetZero Advertising Contact Form. The NetZero Advertising Contact Form collects contact information from potential advertisers who would like to be contacted by NetZero for advertising opportunities. The prospective advertiser supplies certain contact information (including name, company name, address, phone number, e-mail) and information about the type of advertising they are engaged in.
  
  
• Online Surveys, Contests and Sweepstakes. When you participate in an online survey or interactive poll, we will ask you for your demographic information (like your zip code, age or income level) and your hobbies and interests in order to track voting. When you enter a contest or other promotional feature, we will ask you for contact information (like your e-mail address) and demographic information (like your zip code, age, or income level) in order to administer the contest and notify winners.
  
  
• Contact Information and Third Party Data.If you contact NetZero by e-mail or letter, we may keep a record of your personal correspondence. Thus, if you report a problem with our Site, we may collect such information in a file specific to you. Moreover, if you contact us through our feedback area, we require your name and e-mail address in order to send you a reply. Additionally, if other users or third parties send us correspondence about your activities or postings on our Site, we may keep the information in a file specific to you.

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How is your information used?

NetZero uses the information it collects to provide you with more relevant services, online shopping, third party offers, surveys and advertising. To accomplish this we perform research on the demographic, psychographic and other information we collect. This research is compiled, analyzed and used to better serve you, our advertisers and business partners. We also use the information to display and deliver advertisements and content that may be of interest to subscribers. NetZero may provide this information in aggregate form to advertisers and partners. In particular, we use the information you provide as described below.

• NetZero Site.We collect personal identifying information and other information on the NetZero Site as part of NetZero's MyNetZero Service. On the NetZero Site, if you request information from NetZero regarding our advertising services or other information, then we will collect information from you in order to respond to your requests. We also collect information regarding the referring URL, your IP address, which browser you used to come to the Site and the pages of our Site that you viewed during your visit. We use this information to better understand the habits and methods our subscribers use to reach our Site and how we may better serve the needs of our subscribers and visitors.
  
  
• NetZero Service. NetZero uses personal identifying information to confirm or clarify submitted information and to provide our subscribers with updated information about our company and services. Demographic and psychographic information is used to tailor a subscribers experience of our service, such as by displaying advertisements and content that might be of interest to the subscriber. NetZero will not disclose any personal identifying information about any subscriber to a third party unless the subscriber consents to the disclosure, or except as may be required by law, governmental authority or to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. NetZero will, on occasion, share such information in aggregate form with advertisers so that they can target advertisements to groups of subscribers. Our Service implements our own unique technology which builds a database of the types of sites you visit while you are online. This information is ultimately stored in the form of categories, and, in some cases, specific URLs. We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our Service, servers, software, and to administer our Site.
  
  
• NetZero Distribution Program. NetZero uses the distributor contact information to communicate with the prospective distributor and to ensure compliance with the NetZero Distribution Program guidelines. NetZero uses the company and distribution information to determine eligibility for the NetZero Distribution Program. NetZero will not share this information with any third party without the consent of the distributor, or except as may be required by law or governmental authority, or to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. NetZero may share this information in aggregate form with advertisers, partners and the general public.
  
  
• NetZero Now Program.NetZero uses the contact information to communicate with the Web site owner and to ensure compliance with the NetZero Now Program guidelines and Terms of Service. NetZero uses the application information to determine eligibility for the NetZero Now Program. NetZero will not share this information with any third party without the consent of the Web site owner, or except as may be required by law or governmental authority, or to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. NetZero may share this information in aggregate form with advertisers, partners and the general public.
  
  
• NetZero Advertising Contact Form. NetZero uses the contact information to communicate with the potential or existing advertising client and to ensure compliance with the NetZero advertising guidelines and Terms of Service. NetZero will not share this information with any third party without the consent of the advertiser, or except as may be required by law or governmental authority, or to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. NetZero may share this information in aggregate form with other advertisers, partners and the general public.
  
  
• Online Surveys, Contests and Sweepstakes. NetZero conducts surveys in order to target advertisements and content and to better understand subscribers' needs and opinions. NetZero will not share survey information containing personal identifying information about individuals with any third party without your prior consent. NetZero may share, in aggregate form, information it collects from these surveys with its advertisers, partners and the general public.
  
  NetZero may run contests, sweepstakes and other promotions on its Site or through its Service, in which we may request entrants to provide personal or contact information. In some cases, entrants may be required to answer survey questions about a range of topics. NetZero uses the information collected in the entry form to verify the entrant's identity, age and to communicate with entrants. NetZero will not share any of the entrant's personal or contact information with any third party, unless disclosed at the time of entry, if you are a contest winner or as may be required by law. NetZero may make information about entrants available in aggregated form to advertisers, partners and the general public. NetZero will not knowingly permit children under 13 to participate in contests or sweepstakes.
  
  
• Contact Informationand Third Party Data. NetZero uses this information to respond to yourinquiry, and to enable third-party partners to let us know that you have contactedthem.

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Who is collecting your information?

While you are on the NetZero Site or utilizing the NetZero Service we will be collecting information, unless it is specifically stated otherwise. Some of our services are offered in conjunction with our business partners in a co-branded manner. When we offer you co-branded services or products we may share your personal information with our third party partner if you have elected to receive e-mails as provided in your NetZero Personal Profile or during the registration process for the NetZero Service. If any company other than NetZero is collecting personal information (other than companies collecting information on NetZero's behalf), you will be notified prior to the time of collection or prior to the transfer of information to a third party by NetZero. NetZero may reference, recommend or provide links to third party Web sites. We are not responsible for the third party Web sites, recommended or not, and you should review the privacy policies posted on these sites. Please be aware that NetZero does not control, nor are we responsible for, the privacy policies or information practices of third parties or their Web sites. If you do not want to have your personal identifying information shared with a co-branded partner you can choose not to use the services offered by the co-branded partner. You may also change your NetZero preferences in your NetZero Personal Profile at any time. See the section below entitled: "How may you access or update your information?"

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With whom do we share your information?

Generally, NetZero will not disclose any of your personal identifying information to any third party except when we have your consent or when we are required to disclose it pursuant to a court order or if requested by a law enforcement agency or other legal requirement or as described below. We transmit your credit card number and other credit card verification information through our third party service provider to the appropriate credit card company during order processing. Our third party service provider has agreed to confidentiality restrictions and security measures to safeguard such information. We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts the information you input. NetZero will not knowingly disclose personal identifying information of children under 13 to any third party.

NetZero does not monitor in advance subscriber communication, e-mails or content distributed through the Service. By using the Service our subscribers acknowledge NetZero is unlikely to be aware of violations of law or other misconduct by subscribers occurring through its Services. As users of the Service, subscribers bear full responsibility for the material they send via e-mail. As the recipients of e-mail or newsgroup postings, subscribers are responsible for using reasonable efforts to screen unwanted material and reporting any illegal communications to NetZero. NetZero may be required by law, court order, governmental agency or law enforcement authority to disclose a subscriber's personal information that may include e-mail information temporarily residing on our servers. In addition, NetZero may disclose a subscriber's personal information to law enforcement authorities investigating suspected illegal activity or to its legal advisors in connection with a suspected violation of NetZero's Acceptable Use Guidelines, Terms and Conditions, Privacy Statement or Software License Agreement.

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How may you access or update your Information?

The information you provide during registration for the NetZero Service is placed in your NetZero Personal Profile. You may access or update your NetZero Personal Profile information at any time by using the NetZero Service.

To access or update your NetZero Personal Profile: Click once on the NetZero logo in the upper left hand side of the ZeroPort. Then choose the Profile menu item. To retrieve your NetZero Personal Profile, you must enter your password and click the Retrieve button (you can only change the Profile of the Member ID that is shown). You are now at the Profile. By using the Back and Next buttons, you can navigate your way through the questions and change the necessary ones. Once you are done, press the Submit button to leave or the Exit button to cancel your corrections.

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How does NetZero protect your personal information?

NetZero employs security systems to protect the information we receive from our subscribers. In addition, the information in your NetZero Personal Profile is password-protected so that only the subscriber may access or change the information. You should not share your password with anyone. NetZero personnel will never ask you to divulge your password in written or electronic communications. We will only ask you for your password when you contact us and only in cases where you request customer service to correct a service problem which requires your password. Please be aware that Internet data transmission is not always 100% secure and we cannot warrant that information you transmit utilizing the NetZero Service is 100% secure. Because security is important to NetZero and our subscribers, we will always make reasonable efforts to ensure the security of our systems.

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A note about the privacy of children aged 13 to 18.

We collect, use, and disclose information about children aged 13 to 18 in the same manner as we do for adults. NetZero believes that it's especially important to protect children's privacy online and encourages parents and guardians to spend time online with their children to participate and monitor their Internet activity. If you are under 18, we recommend you get your parent's permission before disclosing any information about yourself to anyone on the Internet. We do not filter advertisements or other content that children may receive, and they could receive content and materials from the Internet and/or advertising that are inappropriate for children.

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A Special Notice to parents of children under 13.

In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and fair information practices, we will not knowingly allow children under the age of 13 to become subscribers to the NetZero free Internet access service without parental consent. As part of the registration process for the NetZero service we collect personal and other information. We do not knowingly disclose children's personal information to third parties. We have designed a Parental Consent Form to allow parents to easily provide their consent.

In order to make an informed decision about giving parental consent we provide notice of our information practices with regard to children below:

1. The name, address, telephone number and e-mail address of the operator of this online service is:
   
   NetZero, Inc. - 2555 Townsgate Road, Westlake Village, CA 91361 - (805)418-2000
   
   
2. We collect a variety of information on our Service including, without limitation, personal information such as first and last name, e-mail address, birthday, telephone number and member ID name and non-personal demographic information such as gender, education level, occupation, income, interests and information relating to a various topics such as cars and pets. Most of this information is collected through the profile our subscribers fill out when they register or when they respond to questions of NetZero or its sponsors. We also passively collect data regarding the websites our subscribers visit and the functionality of our subscribers' computers.
   
   
3. We use the information to uniquely identify each subscriber to our service and to research our subscribers' demographics, interests and behavior. This enables us to design and market our service, to tailor advertising to specific users, to perform data analysis for marketing and computer research, and to perform administrative functions. We also use the information to respond to the duly authorized information requests of governmental authorities. We use information about computer functionality to allow us to deliver compatible technologies and services to our subscribers.
   
   
4. We do not disclose the personal information of our child subscribers to third parties.
   
   
5. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act prohibits all operators (including NetZero) from conditioning a child's participation in an Internet activity on the disclosure of more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in the activity.
   
   
6. The parent of a child subscriber can review and have deleted their child's personal information and refuse to permit further collection or use of their child's information by accessing their child's NetZero Personal Profile information. Log on to the Service with the child's Member ID and Password. Click once on the NetZero logo on the ZeroPort. Then choose the Profile menu item. To retrieve your child's NetZero Personal Profile, you must enter your child's password and click the Retrieve button, you can only change the Profile of the Member ID that is shown. You are now at the Profile. By using the Back and Next buttons, you can navigate your way through the questions and change the necessary items. Once you are done, press the Submit button to leave or the Exit button to cancel your corrections. You may terminate your child's account at any time by submitting a request to NetZero via e-mail to [email protected].
   
   
7. This Special Notice is effective as of April 21, 2000 and is not effective prior to such date. This Special Notice only relates to children under the age of 13 and is not applicable in any respect to children 13 or over. In the event we make any changes to any of the information set forth in this Notice, we will promptly revise this Notice accordingly and make it available in our Privacy Statement.

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Use of Cookies.

Cookies are small data text files that are sent from a server computer to your computer during a browsing session. The cookies are typically stored on your computer's hard drive and are used by web sites to simulate a continuous connection to that site. In order to make our site more responsive to the needs of our visitors, NetZero uses cookies to assign your Internet browser a unique random number, a sort of anonymous user ID that is stored in a file on your computer. Our site uses cookies for marketing purposes in order to deliver content and advertising specific to your interests and demographics. In this way, we can tailor our site to your needs, to deliver a better, more personalized service, and to track the pages on our sites visited by our users. This unique identification number automatically identifies your browser to our computers whenever you interact on our Site. Acceptance of our cookie is a condition for receiving our services.

We may use an outside advertising company to display banner advertisements on our Service. Banner advertisements you click on may contain cookies, and appear to be coming from our Service, but in reality they are coming from our partners who are serving advertisements on our Service.

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Other information about your privacy while visiting and using the Site or using the NetZero Service.

NetZero collects information regarding subscribers' interactions with the NetZero software during their online sessions. NetZero also collects information regarding subscribers, visitors and users of the NetZero Site. This includes information about which advertisements are displayed to a subscriber, which advertisements a subscriber clicked on, which buttons in the ZeroPort a subscriber clicked on and a subscriber's other interactions with the NetZero Service. NetZero also tracks subscribers' traffic patterns throughout their online session, including which Web sites a subscriber visits while using the Service and which pages a subscriber views while using the Site. Our Service implements our own unique technology to build a database of the types of sites you visit while you are using the Service or the Site. This information is ultimately stored in the form of categories, and, in some cases, specific URLs. We use your IP address to diagnose problems with our Service, servers, software, and to administer our Site.

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Privacy Statement Changes

If NetZero changes any of the NetZero privacy policies, the changes will be posted in this document so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information and to whom we will disclose it. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of this Statement at any time. Please be sure to check this page periodically for changes. This policy was last changed and posted on our Site on March 24, 2004.

Acceptance of These Terms

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and subject to the terms of the NetZero Service and NetZero Site Terms of Service. Each time that you use the NetZero Site or NetZero Service, you signify that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by the Terms of Service, which incorporates this Privacy Statement. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Statement, you must discontinue using the NetZero Services and Software, terminate your account and uninstall any copies of the Software.

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Last update: 03-26-2004