Privacy

Our commitment to protecting people’s privacy online is as serious as our dedication to providing the most relevant advertising.

Specific Media takes the issue of user privacy on the internet very seriously and the following is intended to be a plain English explanation of the approach we currently employ. We always welcome comments on our privacy policy and constantly strive to maintain a privacy policy which improves the service we provide to advertisers, publishers and web users in general.

What we do

Specific Media is an online advertising network. We work with hundreds of websites in the US, UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway buying display (image) advertising space and re-selling it in carefully targeted packages to advertisers and agencies. The targeting options we offer range from simple geographic locations, to more complicated targeting involving user’s interests. As we target, we identify the sites and groups of users that are most likely to create a response to an advertiser's campaign.

What Data We Collect

Cookie Information

Cookies provide us with the ability to create an ID in order for us to match collected data to an anonymous machine including:

• The URLs (or website address) of web pages which have been viewed
• The date and time of visit to a web page
• Whether the user has clicked on an ad of one of our Advertisers, visited their website, or undertaken a transaction with them

Session Information

This information relates to user, campaign and interest-based history and is used for frequency capping and interest targeting. This information is gathered from websites visited and clicks registered by the user’s machine.

Request-based Information

This information is passed to us by the user’s computer browser with every request and is stored entirely anonymously for statistical purposes only:

• IP (Internet Protocol) addresses - Every device connected to the Internet has an IP address. This cannot be traced to an individual user but can be used for geographic targeting and statistical measurements.
• Browser type - e.g. Are you using Microsoft Explorer or Apple’s Safari
• Computer Operating System - e.g. Are you using Windows Vista or Apple OS

We may purchase anonymous data from third party sources. This data is anonymous and is used to update existing user profiles. We do not share, rent or sell any of the data acquired from third party sources.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

We do not collect any personally identifiable information. The IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau), which is a trade association for the internet marketing industry, defines personally identifiable information as 'information that can be traced back to a specific user and provide personal information such as name, address, phone number, etc.' In other words, it's information about you that can identify you as a person rather than an anonymous profile.

All of our profiles are anonymous, and relate to a computer rather than a user. For us, they are nothing more than a number with which we associate interests and/or an estimated or inferred demographic profile.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are stored within a folder on your computer and are used only by your Internet browser. They are not programs or applications – they are merely a marker of our previous contact with you. They take up a tiny amount of space on your computer (less than a regular webpage without images does) and can be used to uniquely, but anonymously, identify your computer.

Most websites use cookies to identify users and improve the user experience.

The Specific Media cookie does not harm your computer in any way or provide us with any information about your identity. The Specific Media cookie is not spyware or adware.

The general definition of spyware/adware is that of a software package installed on your computer for purposes of monitoring all your internet or general computer activity. We do not install software of any kind on your computer and have no ability to monitor or track your general computer or overall internet usage. Cookies can be easily avoided by opting out from them, or adjusting your browser settings.

How We Use This Data

Specific Media uses the information collected to target advertising campaigns more effectively. The aim is for you to see ads which you are more likely to be interested in, rather than ads that you aren't. We do this by comparing the information relating to your anonymous profile, against our selection of ad campaigns and choosing the most suitable advert. It's important to understand that Specific Media can only create these profiles and display ads to you when you visit a website that we have a relationship with.

Most websites you visit will not charge you, but are funded by the ads that you view. The more effective the advertising on a site, the more money it can generate from fewer adverts – reducing the clutter and invasiveness of the advertising on their websites. Identifying anonymous profiles allows Specific Media to offer an improved online experience for you, increased performance to our advertisers and enhanced revenues for our websites.

We do not sell, rent or share any of the anonymous data to third parties.

Action Attribution

To gain a greater understanding of a site's performance, or a user's general interests, we use a variety of technologies to determine which websites in our network the user visited previously and/or where the user clicked on an advert. Using this information, we can calculate which websites and/or which broad interest characteristic of user is likely to best respond to a particular campaign. This takes two forms:

• Performance Attribution

  We monitor the sales, signups or visits to certain predetermined pages on our advertisers' websites. We reconcile these page 'hits' back to the ads that were shown to allow us to manage advertising campaign delivery, and report on this to our advertisers and publishers. We use cookies to limit the number of adverts any individual computer is exposed to.

• User Interest Profiling

  To create a user interest profile, we observe which websites within our network users have interacted, and we determine what topics those websites are about. This information is combined to generate an anonymous interest profile for specific computers.
  
  Depending on the content of the sites users visit, we build an anonymous profile which contains information on potential interests and a statistical estimate of their likely demographic. For example, if a user visits a sports site within our network then we may classify them as broadly interested in that sport. All data that we use is stored anonymously.

Opting Out

Specific Media is a member of NAI, the Network Advertising Initiative, a coalition of online advertising networks that provides an opportunity for consumers to opt-out of targeted advertising by member companies.

If you prefer not to have online advertising tailored to a user interest profile, you may opt out at any time by one of the following methods:

• Opt out of targeting from all NAI member networks by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative at http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp or the Internet Advertising Bureau at http://youronlinechoices.co.uk. This uses a cookie that blocks the use of targeting. Please note that as with any cookie, if you delete your cookies, change browsers, or use a different computer, you will need to opt out again.
• Opt out of Specific Media’s user interest targeting cookie by clicking the button below. Please note that if you delete your cookies, change browsers, or use a different computer, you will need to opt out again.
  
  
• Disable cookies in your browser (typically under Tools-Options-Privacy, but this varies between browser types and versions). Please note that cookies are used for a variety of reasons, not just targeting advertising, so this may adversely impact your online experience.

It should also be noted that opting out does not mean you will not see adverts online, but these adverts will not be targeted based on your online user interest profile from us as an individual vendor.

Data Retention

Specific Media maintains all server log data (see ‘What data we collect’) and data stored in the cookie for a period of 12 months to comply with audits, court order or law enforcement inquiries. After 12 months all of the stored data is destroyed. Summarized data is kept indefinitely. Summarized data is aggregated statistical data (impressions and clicks) used for financial reporting purposes.

Security

If you provide us with your contact or business information in order to conduct business with us as an advertiser or publisher, Specific Media uses commercially reasonable physical, managerial, and technical safeguards to preserve the integrity and security of your information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to Specific Media and you do so at your own risk.

Specific Media takes appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorised access to or unauthorised alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. These include internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures, as well as physical security measures to guard against unauthorised access to systems where we store data.

Correspondence

If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence and we may collect your email address. This relates to this correspondence only – and is not part of our core online business.

Children's Privacy

Specific Media is very sensitive to the importance of children's privacy and employs a zero-tolerance approach to advertising to children. Specific Media's websites, products, and services are neither developed for, nor directed at, children. Specific Media does not employ or offer targeting towards children under the age of 18. If you believe your child has provided Specific Media with personal information, or registered at one of Specific Media's websites, and you would like to have the data removed, please contact us.

Changes to Privacy Policy

This privacy policy is subject to change without notice. If you visit our website or use our services, the terms and conditions of this privacy policy as displayed at that time apply.

Effective Date

The privacy policy was last revised on March 30, 2010.

Questions and Comments

Questions and comments about our privacy policy should be directed to ukfeedback@specificmedia.com or mailed to Privacy Officer, Specific Media, 26-30 Strutton Ground, London SW1P 2HR.

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