Revised January 2, 2020

 

The following is the Better Business Bureau online privacy policy, which governs how visitor information (your information) is gathered and used on Internet sites of our affiliated organizations: International Association of Better Business Bureaus, independent BBBs and BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust (collectively referred to as "BBB"). Please take a few minutes to read this policy carefully.

 

Please note that the BBB AUTO LINE motor vehicle warranty dispute resolution program and BBB EU Privacy Shield dispute resolution program, which are administered by BBB National Programs, Inc., are governed by BBB NP’s separate privacy policy published on www.bbbnp.org. BBB Wise Giving Alliance has a separate privacy policy published on www.give.org.

 

BBB provides its nonprofit services to businesses and consumers in North America and does not market to businesses or individuals in the European Economic Area.

 

Except as provided in this Privacy Policy, unless BBB previously agrees in writing, all information provided to BBB, including information exchanged through electronic communication, is neither privileged nor confidential.

 

Your Information that BBB May Collect Online
You can affirmatively submit to BBB certain user information pertaining to your interaction with BBB. User information may include a search query (such as the name and location of a business or charity) or other information as described more fully below. You can also provide location information (so that you can search near you or in an area you specify), or billing or donation information. We also may infer your geographic location based on your IP address or other information. User information may also include information pertaining to a marketplace complaint, such as your name, postal and e-mail address, phone and facsimile numbers, and description of the complaint or customer review.

 

When you submit a comment to a blog post on the BBB website, you also submit your name and email address to BBB. BBB may share that information with a third party, if a third party originated the blog post. When you apply to be a BBB arbitrator, you submit your name, address and other contact information, and information about your qualifications. BBB may also collect information from a business that inquires about BBB accreditation, conference attendance or program participation, some of which could constitute identifying information about a sole proprietor, as well as identifying information from individuals acting in their business capacity. If you report a scam through BBB Scam Tracker, you submit to BBB your name, state/province, postal code, email address and, if elected, telephone number.

 

Some applications on BBB websites to which you may submit comments or other information are administered by third parties. These applications collect, use and share information under third party privacy policies.

 

BBB.org utilizes Google Maps API to provide consumers with the location of user selected businesses. This feature is added at the option of business. The user has the option to request directions to the business through Maps API. No user submitted data is collected, maintained or stored by BBB. Further information on Google's privacy standards can be found at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy.

 

BBB may obtain personal data regarding media contacts and influencers from a variety of sources, including Cision. If you wish to know more about how such information is collected and used, please refer to Cision’s privacy notice at http://www.cision.com/us/legal/privacy-policy.

 

BBB's websites are not designed with the purpose of attracting any person under age 13. BBB does not knowingly collect or maintain any personal information from children under the age of 13.

 

BBB provides its nonprofit services to businesses and consumers in North America and does not market to EU or EEA businesses or individuals.

Cookies and Other Persistent Identifiers

 

BBB or third parties we contract with may use persistent identifiers such as cookies, embedded scripts, web beacons, pixel tags, log files, or similar technologies to collect certain information about visitors to our site and interactions with our online and mobile sponsorship information or advertisements.

 

For example, we may automatically collect certain non-personal information from you, including but not limited to your browser type, device type, geographical location, operating system, unique device identifier of any of your computer(s) or device(s) that are used to access the site, software version, Internet Protocol ("IP") address, phone model, phone operating system, and the domain name from which you accessed the site. We also may collect information about your use of the site, including the date and time you visit the site, the areas or pages of the site that you visit, the amount of time you spend viewing or using the site, the number of times you return to the site, other click-stream or site usage data, emails that you open, forward or click-through to our site, advertising that you click on, and other sites that you may visit.

 

You can still use BBB's websites if you have set your browser to reject cookies or tracking identifiers, but it may prevent you from viewing or accessing some of the features of our sites.

 

BBB's websites do not track visitors from the European Economic Area.

 

Uses of Persistent Identifiers
BBB or third parties may use identifiers to generate certain kinds of site usage data, such as the number of hits and visits to our sites. This information is used to understand how visitors use our sites and provide better services to you. BBB or third parties may also use identifiers to personalize the display of sponsorships or advertisements and customize the content you see while using our sites and sometimes while visiting other websites (see Your Ad Choices below).

 

BBB may transfer, or allow third parties to collect, analytic information about your visit to BBB websites to help us improve our websites and better serve you when you visit us online in the future. Analytic information may include such identifiers as your browser type, IP address, referring site URL, web pages you view and links you click on while navigating within our sites.

 

We use this information for a number of purposes, such as to provide easier site navigation, access to forms, or to track analytics and certain statistical information that enables us to improve our site and provide you with more relevant content and information on our site and other sites.

 

We may also use third party analytics and advertising tools, or allow third party companies, to serve ads and/or automatically collect certain non-personal information from you when you interact with our site, advertising, or social media. This may include click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over. These third party tools or companies may use technology such as cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, or log files to collect such information.

 

How BBB Uses Your Information
We will use information you affirmatively submit to BBB for the purpose for which it is submitted, such as to reply to your email, respond to your inquiry, handle your complaint, publish your customer review or comment, process billing and donation transactions, register your participation in an event, respond to requests related to program participation, review applications to be a BBB arbitrator, publish your scam report and communicate with you when necessary. We may also use such information to provide operational notices, in program record-keeping and to conduct research on industry marketplace practices. We may publish aggregate data, but the aggregate data will not include any user information you provided to us. At this time we do not respond to "do not track” signals issued by web browsers. We may contact individuals registering for events with information about other BBB events or, if relevant, membership or sponsorship opportunities.

 

We may use third party contractors to act on our behalf, and these contractors are obligated to not disclose or use your information for other purposes.

 

BBB relies on information collected from our users to develop new services and conduct analysis to enhance current content and services. Information collected from you may be used to review usage and operations of our site and address any resulting issues with our site.

 

At certain points where your information is collected on our site, there may be a box where you may indicate you would like to be on a mailing list to receive information about BBB or its affiliated organizations. This election box only appears in places where the service collecting your information maintains such lists. You can remove your name from a BBB mailing list by utilizing the appropriate unsubscribe feature contained in the emails.

 

BBB may also use the information we collect from you to enhance your online experience and provide you with customized site content and targeted information on the site, across third party sites, or through your mobile device.

 

Your Ad Choices
BBB may allow third parties to collect and use information about your browsing activity on our website in order to serve you more relevant ads based on your interests. BBB adheres to the Digital Advertising Alliance's Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, and commits to providing consumers with notice and choice about interest-based advertising. On pages where we allow third parties to collect data for interest-based ads, you will see the notice "Your Ad Choices" near the link to the Privacy Policy. When you receive an ad based on your interests, you will see the Advertising Option Icon  in or near the ad to provide you with notice that the advertisement is tailored to your possible interests as inferred from your browsing activity. To learn more about interest-based advertising, click here. To opt out of future interest-based advertising, click here. You will still see ads, but they will not be based on subjects or products that the advertiser thinks may be of interest to you.

 

Other Ways Your Information May Be Shared
Inquiries, Complaints and Reviews

 

In order to process a complaint, BBB may send the complaint to the business (which may be outside of your country), handle the complaint itself, or refer the complaint to another appropriate organization for handling. BBB may handle complaints against foreign businesses or BBB may refer such complaints to an appropriate foreign organization. Depending on the type of complaint, BBB will provide complaints to the company complained about and, in some situations, to the company's franchisor or licensor for quality control purposes. BBB may also send a customer review to the subject business (which may be outside of your country). By completing a complaint or review form or sending us a request or inquiry, you are authorizing us to forward your information to the appropriate BBB office or to the proper business.

 

BBB Scam Tracker
We will publicly post your description of the reported scam on the BBB Scam Tracker website along with your postal code. We will share your name, state/province, postal code, email address and other information you submit with other BBBs administering BBB Scam Tracker. We may also share this information with governmental agencies, law enforcement and other appropriate organizations for investigation or research. With your consent, BBB may share your information in response to media inquiries.

 

Other purposes
BBB may also share your information under the following circumstances:
 

• We routinely share North American complaint and BBB Scam Tracker information with the Federal Trade Commission for its consumer protection activities.

• We respond to requests from governmental agencies or where required by law (such as by subpoena, investigative demand, court order or regulation).

• We may share information where our records indicate a company may be engaged in fraudulent activity or other unfair or deceptive practices that we believe should be referred to a governmental agency or a private organization whose work is consistent with the BBB mission.

• We may share information with appropriate governmental authorities, where warranted by a company's failure to (i) participate in BBB or BBB self-regulatory programs; (ii) follow procedures or implement a decision of BBB EU Privacy Shield or (iii) participate in or honor the recommendations of the National Advertising Division, Children's Advertising Review Unit, National Advertising Review Board, Electronic Retailing Self-Regulatory Program, or Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program.

• We may share information with appropriate persons or governmental authorities, where your communication suggests possible harm to others.

• We may share information with BBB National Programs or BBB Wise Giving Alliance.

• We may share business information with third parties for such purposes as allowing search engines and others to identify BBB accredited businesses, or for quality control purposes of franchisors or licensors.

 

International Transfers
If you are visiting our site from outside the United States, be aware that your information will be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located within the United States. The collection, use, retention and any other processing of your information will be governed by United States law and further by the specific jurisdictions within the United States where that information is stored, unless otherwise specified. BBB provides its nonprofit services to businesses and consumers in North America and does not market to businesses or individuals in the European Economic Area.

 

Updates
If BBB changes this policy in the future, we will post the changes here and indicate the date of the changes at the top of the policy.

 

Problems or Complaints with BBB Privacy Policy
If you have a complaint about BBB compliance with this privacy policy, you may contact us at privacy@IABBB.org.