Reading Privacy Policies

Websites and Collecting Personal Information

Many websites, including Yahoo!, ask visitors for personal information. This information might be used to send a free newsletter, let you shop online, customize a webpage, decide what ads to show, let you enter a contest, or let you play a game. There are many legitimate uses for personal information, but before you give out information about yourself, carefully review a site’s privacy policy.

A privacy policy is a statement that explains how the website will treat the personal information it collects. Reading and understanding the policy will help you make an informed decision about whether or not you want to share your personal information. A privacy policy should be:

• Easy to find. Many websites link to a privacy policy somewhere on their front pages (often at the bottom or on a sidebar) and on pages where they collect personal information. Yahoo!’s Privacy Policy is linked at the bottom of most pages throughout our sites.
• Clear. The privacy policy should tell you what kinds of things the websites do and don't do with your personal information. Do they share it with anyone outside that company? Do they sell or rent their user lists? Can you say “no” to or opt-out of third parties using your information? Can you remove yourself from a shared mailing list? Websites should tell you how to update, change, or delete your information, or who you can contact with questions about their policies.
• Specific about how they protect young people’s privacy. Many websites participate in TRUSTe or BBBOnLine®, a program of the Better Business Bureau. These are third-party seal programs that review the privacy policies and practices of websites. Participants of both programs must meet and maintain a minimum standard of privacy protection before they can display a seal. In addition, both the TRUSTe and BBBOnLine® programs have special privacy seals for sites that collect information from young people or sites that have young people as their target audiences.

Examples of Privacy Seals
TRUSTe Privacy Seal	TRUSTe Privacy Seal for Kids Sites	BBBOnLine Privacy Seal	BBBOnLine Privacy Seal for Kids Sites

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires sites that target young people or know that a visitor to their site is under the age of 13 to follow certain rules established by the Federal Trade Commission. For example, the site must get parental consent before collecting personally identifying information from anyone under the age of 13. Yahoo! complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. For more information on children’s privacy, visit the FTC’s Kidz Privacy website.

We encourage you to read privacy policies on the sites you visit, including the Yahoo! Privacy Policy.