Dotster's Privacy Policy

We respect your privacy and want to make your experience visiting our website located at www.dotster.com and using our services as enjoyable and rewarding as possible. This Privacy Policy describes what personal information of our subscribers ("Subscribers") and visitors ("Visitors") (collectively, "Users") is collected and how and when it might be used or shared by Dotster, Inc. with its parent company, The Endurance International Group, Inc. ("Endurance," and collectively with Dotster, Inc., the "Company") or trusted partners to deliver or enhance our services.

• WHO WE ARE. Dotster provides cloud-based solutions, including web-hosting, domain name and related products and services, to businesses, individuals, non-profit organizations and others. As part of the Endurance corporate family, Dotster is able to provide a variety and range of products and services to help Users with their technological needs. To learn more about the Endurance corporate family, click here.
• INFORMATION WE COLLECT. We collect information in different ways from Users who may access our services, or the network of websites accessible through our services.
  • Registration and Account Information. Subscribers are asked to provide certain personal information when they sign up for our services including name, postal address, email address, phone number, and billing information (such as a credit card number). Subscribers may also be asked to complete an online form that collects information about demographics, product usage and preferences, along with other information that will help us improve our products and services.
  • Social Media. Our website includes social media features (such as the Facebook "Like" button). These features may collect your IP address and which page you are visiting on our website, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets may be hosted by a third party or directly on our website. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing the feature.
  • Cookies and Tracking. A "cookie" is a small data file that can be placed on your hard drive when you visit certain websites or open certain emails. We may use cookies to collect, store, and sometimes track information for statistical purposes to improve the products and services we provide and to manage our telecommunications networks. More specifically, we use different types of cookies for different purposes: (i) "required cookies" are necessary for our website to work properly, (ii) "performance cookies" allow us to analyze how Visitors use our website so we can measure and improve the performance of our website, (iii) "functional cookies" allow us to remember choices you may have made on our website, and (iv) "advertising cookies" are used to present ads that are relevant to your interests. We may utilize cookies to track referrals from internal and external affiliates, as well as advertising campaigns. We may also use a third party service provider to send emails that you have agreed to receive. Pixel tags and cookies may be used in those email messages to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and to enable us to provide more focused marketing communications to you. You may set your web browser to notify you when you receive a cookie or change the settings on your web browser to clear or disable cookies. If you decide not to accept cookies, you may not be able to take advantage of all of the features of our website. Additionally, please be aware that if you visit third party websites where you are prompted to log in or that are customizable, you may be required to accept cookies. Cookies do not enable third parties to access any of your personal (i.e., contact) information. However, advertisers and partners may also use their own cookies. We do not control use of these cookies and are not responsible for information collected through them.
  • Customer Surveys. We may periodically conduct customer surveys. Participation in our customer surveys is voluntary. However, we encourage our Users to participate in these surveys because your survey answers provide us with important information that helps us improve the types of services we offer and how we provide them to you. Your personal information, if provided, will remain confidential, even if the survey is conducted by a third party service provider on our behalf.
  • Collection by Linked Websites. We provide links to some third party websites as a convenience to the User. Please exercise care when visiting linked websites. The linked websites have separate and independent privacy statements, notices and terms of use which we recommend you read carefully. When you visit or make purchases through these third party sites, you may be asked to provide personal information, such as your name, address, email address, phone number, and credit/debit card information. Please note that in such cases, you are providing information to a third party and we have no control over such third party's use of any information you provide and, therefore, we have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which the third party that operates a linked website may collect, use, disclose, secure or otherwise treat your personal information. Except as provided herein, we will not provide any of your personal information to any third parties without your consent.
• USE OF INFORMATION. We use the information we collect to provide cloud-based product solutions and services along with collecting payment. Passively collected information, such as information collected from or about your device including through the placement or reading of cookies or other tracking technologies is used to provide a customized experience as you use our services.
  • Subscriber Contact/Account Information. The information collected from Subscribers is used to manage each Subscriber's account (such as for billing and account management purposes) and to promote other products or services that we believe may be of interest to the Subscriber. We may also generate aggregate profiles from information that Subscribers provide during registration (such as the total number of Subscribers in a given category). As explained in more detail below, we may in certain instances use aggregated and non-identifying information to promote advertisements that appear on our website and in connection with our services.
  • Analytics/Statistics. We use information gathered from our website analytics (for example, User IP addresses) to help diagnose problems with our servers, and to administer and optimize our website. We also gather broad demographic information from this data to help us improve our website and make your browsing and purchasing experience more responsive, efficient, or enjoyable. Any statistics gathered by us are proprietary property of the Company.
  • Responses to Email Inquiries. When Subscribers send email inquiries to us, the return email address (and other personal information provided in the inquiry) is used to answer the email inquiry we receive.
  • Customer Surveys. We may use the contact and other information provided to follow up with Users who respond to our customer surveys to help resolve issues internally or with our third party partners. For example, we may contact Users based on their survey answers or to highlight certain changes we made in response to User feedback.
• SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OR NON-IDENTIFYING AGGREGATED DATA. From time to time, we may share personal information with the Company's other fully or partially-owned entities and brands to improve or offer new products or services that we believe may be of interest to our Users. We may also share personal information when we believe that such disclosure is required by law, to deliver a product or service, or as described below.
  • Product and Service Partners. Some products or services are offered or promoted to Users in conjunction with a partner or sponsor. For example, we may partner with other corporate affiliates of the Company or with trusted non-affiliated partners for co-promotions of a particular product or service. We may share certain User information such as contact or demographic information, but no billing information, with such partners or sponsors in order to provide the relevant services or to run the promotion. If we share User information with such partners and sponsors, we require that they maintain the User information in confidence, and use the information solely for purposes of providing the services or carrying out the agreed upon promotion.
  • Service Providers. We may transfer (or otherwise make available) your personal information to third parties that help us provide our services or provide services on our behalf. For example, we may use service providers to authorize and process payments, administer surveys, or run promotions. Your personal information may be maintained and processed by our third party service providers in the United States or in other jurisdictions. Our service providers are given the information they need to perform their designated functions, and we do not authorize them to use or disclose personal information for their own marketing or other purposes.
  • Online Advertisements. We do not share personally identifiable information about individual Users with advertisers. We may display online advertisements and we may share aggregated and non-identifying information about our Users that we collect through the registration process or through online surveys and promotions with certain advertisers. In some instances, we use this aggregated and non-identifying information to deliver tailored advertisements. For example, an advertiser may tell us the audience they want to reach (e.g., males between 25 and 55 years of age) and provide us with an advertisement tailored to the audience. Based upon the aggregated and non-identifying information we have collected, we may then display the advertisement to the intended audience.
  • Customer Surveys. We may share User information obtained from customer surveys within the Company and with trusted third parties to develop or provide products and services that we believe would be of interest to the User.
  • Sale of Business. If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a material portion of its assets, change in corporate control, or insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any such change in ownership or use of your personal information as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.
  • Law Enforcement and Special Cases. We, or our service providers, may disclose personal information about Users, or information regarding your use of the services in response to governmental or legal requests (such as to a subpoena, search warrant, or court order), or as otherwise required to comply with applicable laws. We may also disclose information that is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against a party that threatens us, our systems or our Users (for example, to prevent a Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, attack).
  • Domain Registration. In certain jurisdictions or pursuant to the rules of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") or certain registries, the contact information you provide to register a domain name ("Domain Name Registration Information") has to be made available and accessible to the public through a "WHOIS" search. The WHOIS database is a publicly accessible database that lists the Domain Name Registration Information for a particular domain name, the name server(s) to which the domain name points, and the domain name's creation and expiration date. The Domain Name Registration Information you provide is hosted by us or a third party service provider and is made available to the public through WHOIS searches. At times, Subscribers may receive solicitations that result from searches of the publicly available WHOIS database by other companies or individuals. Any such solicitations or SPAM do not come from us and we do not control the use of WHOIS information by third parties. We may also deposit your Domain Name Registration Information with a third-party escrow provider to comply with ICANN requirements.
• YOUR OPTIONS
  • Public Forums. Please remember that any information you may disclose or post in our User directory, spotlights/case studies, testimonials, forums, or other public areas of our websites or the Internet, becomes public information. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose personal information in these public areas. To request removal of your personal information from our community forums or testimonials, contact us at legal@dotster-inc.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know why we are unable to do so.

  • Unsubscribe/Opt-out. When you become a Subscriber of support@dotster-inc.com, you are automatically subscribed to receive transactional notices about your account, email newsletters and news of special promotions offered through Dotster, Inc. and/or in conjunction with our partners.

    To unsubscribe from Dotster, Inc. newsletters and promotional mailings, please update your preferences with our Subscription Manager tool or email us at Dotster, Inc. support. If you would like to cancel your Dotster, Inc. subscription, please contact Dotster, Inc. support through our online support form or call us at 800-401-5250. You may also unsubscribe through the links provided in promotional email messages sent by us or our partners/affiliates.

  • How to Access or Modify Your Information. We allow you to access, update, and correct inaccuracies in your personal information in our custody and control, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. You may request access, updating and corrections of inaccuracies in your personal information we have in our custody or control by accessing your personal profile in your account or by contacting support via email, phone or online chat. We may request certain personal information for the purposes of verifying the identity of the individual seeking access to their personal information records.

    To ensure you receive the information you need to manage your account and protect your privacy, please be sure to keep your contact and billing information up to date. You can update all account-related information directly through your Control Panel. Alternatively, you can contact Dotster, Inc. support by phone 800-401-5250 or through our online support form.

• OUR COMMITMENT TO DATA SECURITY. We have implemented measures designed to protect personal information in our custody and control. We maintain reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorized access, use, modification and disclosure of personal information in our custody and control. Unfortunately, no data storage or transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information in transit and as stored on our systems or the systems of our third party service providers, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control; (b) the security, integrity and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through this website cannot be guaranteed; and (c) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party, despite our best efforts. When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit card number) on our order forms, we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).
  • Password. Your online access to certain personal information may be protected with a password you select. We strongly recommend that you do not disclose your password to anyone. We will never ask you for your password in any unsolicited communication (such as letters, phone calls or email messages).
• REVISIONS TO THIS POLICY. We reserve the right to revise, amend, or modify this Privacy Policy at any time and in any manner. However, if we plan to materially change how we plan to use previously collected personal information, we will provide you with advance notice prior to the change becoming effective and an opportunity to opt-out of such differing uses. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices. You can find when this Privacy Policy was last updated at the bottom of this page.
• CHILDREN UNDER 13. This website is not directed towards children and we do not seek to collect any personal information from children. If we become aware that personal information from a child under the age of 13 has been collected, we will use all reasonable efforts to delete such information from our database.
• CONTACT US REGARDING THIS POLICY. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the practices described herein, you may contact: Legal, Dotster, Inc., 10 Corporate Dr., Suite 300, Burlington, MA 01803 or legal@dotster-inc.com.
• APPLICABLE TO ALL RESELLER RELATIONSHIPS. In addition to all of the terms and conditions set forth above, the following terms apply to Reseller relationships only.
  • Information Related to Data Collected through Resellers. We may collect information under the direction of Resellers, and we have no direct relationship with the individuals whose personal data is provided, processed or obtained by our Resellers. Customers who seek access, or who seek to correct, amend, or delete inaccurate data should direct their query to the Reseller's data controller. If the Reseller requests that we remove the data, we will respond to such request within thirty (30) business days.
  • Choice. If you are a customer of one of our Resellers and would no longer like to be contacted by such Reseller, please contact the Reseller from whom you purchased products or services.
  • Data Retention. We retain personal data we process on behalf of our Resellers for as long as needed to provide services under the relationship. We will retain and use this personal information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

• TRUSTe CERTIFICATION. We have been awarded TRUSTe's Privacy Seal signifying that this Privacy Policy and our practices have been reviewed by TRUSTe for compliance with TRUSTe's Program Requirements and the TRUSTed Cloud Program Requirements including transparency, accountability and choice regarding the collection and use of your personal information. TRUSTe's mission, as an independent third party, is to accelerate online trust among consumers and organizations globally through its leading privacy Trustmark and innovative trust solutions. If you have questions or complaints regarding our Privacy Policy or practices, please contact us at legal@dotster-inc.com. If you are not satisfied with our response you can contact TRUSTe here.

  The TRUSTe program covers our collection, use and disclosure of information we collect through our website, dotster.com, and our services.

This file was last modified May 22, 2014.