Last updated December 28, 2002

800HomeTours.com™ TAKES YOUR PRIVACY SERIOUSLY. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy. This privacy policy applies to the use of the Sites (as defined below) by consumers ("you") who are customers of 800HomeTours.com, Inc. and its subsidiaries, and affiliates (collectively, "800HomeTours", "we", "us" and "our"). For information about our Professional Privacy Policy for REALTORS®, homebuilders, lenders, remodelers, home service professionals and other non-consumer services professionals that use the Sites, please check out our Professional Privacy Policy. We review this Privacy Policy on an annual basis and we welcome any suggestions you might have about additional ideas regarding our privacy policy at privacyideas@800HomeTours.com.

Click here for information on Internet safety and security from the Federal Trade Commission.

The 800HomeTours family of sites, including but not limited to 800HomeTours.com, 800HomeTour.com®, PixSureIT.com™ are committed to your privacy and security and want to provide you with the best possible online experience. To that end, we want you to understand what kinds of information we gather from you, how this information is used and safeguarded, and how you can control its use.

800HomeTours™ Privacy Principles

To make this Privacy Policy easy to understand, we have built it around 5 simple privacy principles.

1. Notice – You have a right to know what data is collected by 800HomeTours at what part of the Sites and how in general it will be used.
2. Choice – You have a right to choose (or choose not to) share information with us and our marketing allies, where it is reasonable to do so.
3. Access, Edit and Non-Use – You have a right to access, edit and review Personally Identifiable Information (information which may, on its own be directly traceable to you, such as your name, social security number, phone number or address) store on the Sites
4. Non-Use – You have a right to know how to contact us to ask that we no longer use your information to market to you, and to have us reasonably comply with your request.
5. Security - You have a right to know what security measures we have implemented in order to protect your Personally Identifiable Information.

What information is collected from me?

The kinds of information we collect from you will vary, depending on how you use the Sites. It’s possible to browse the Sites without submitting any Personally Indentifiable Information (“personal information”) at all, but if you choose to take advantage of some of our products and services, you may be asked to provide information such as a user name and password, your full name, e-mail address, phone number, address, or, for certain financial products or services, your Social Security number and banking information, and for certain e-commerce transactions your credit card information. Whenever we ask for this kind of information, we strive to provide a link to this Privacy Policy to help you understand how your personal information will be used before you decide whether to disclose it.

In addition to the personal information you choose to submit, our systems are set up to gather certain anonymous data to help us to better understand how the Sites are being used and how we can improve them. This automatically gathered data includes your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, statistics about how visitors navigate through the Sites and information provided through the use of “cookies” (which is described in more detail below).

As you visit the Sites, be aware that third parties may at times be able to gather information from and about you. For example, third party advertiser servers, companies that place advertisements on the Sites and companies offering products or services through the Sites may use cookies to collect and use information about you and may collect information that you submit. In these cases, the third parties will use such information according to their own privacy policies that may differ from this Privacy Policy.

How is my information used?

The use of your information depends on the context in which it is collected. Therefore, pay special attention to the categories below that relate to the features of the Sites that you wish to utilize. In addition to using your personal information as set forth below, note that we may disclose the information that we collect about you when we have reason to believe that it is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against persons or entities who may be causing injury to you, to us or to others, and may also disclose such information when we believe that the law requires it, such as identifying (but not limited to) violations of our Terms of Use.

We may link information collected from you through various means, including information collected automatically and through the use of cookies and purchase information, or other personal information you provide to help us offer content, advertisements, products and services that we believe will be of interest to you, and this information may also be shared among the Sites. In addition, we may share this information, in aggregate form, with our current and potential advertisers so they can present advertisements more effectively.

If you have indicated that you want to be contacted by third parties, we may use the information we collect to select which names to provide to a particular third party in order to present you with products and services that we believe will be of interest to you, but we will not disclose this type of information, other than your Contact Information (information that provides a means of contacting you), to any such third party.

800HomeTours may use anonymous data automatically gathered by our servers so that we can understand how to make the Sites more convenient and useful to our audience. This information may also be shared among the Sites and used for similar purposes. In addition, we may share this information, in aggregate form, with our current and potential advertisers or marketing allies so they can try to present advertisements and content more effectively. We may also use aggregate information to share information with the public regarding products, services, content or tools that may of interest to them.

If we sell off a division, merge with another company or spin off a business, your information may be included in such a transaction. However if such a transaction occurs we will notify you of the event and give you an opportunity to respond.

Cookies: Cookies are small files that we send to and store on your computer so that we can recognize it as a unique machine the next time you visit the Sites. Our cookies are used for three purposes: (1) to keep track of your information for your own convenience; (2) to help us optimize your online experience by altering our content depending on your particular needs or browsing patterns, and to provide you with advertisements, products and services that we believe will be of interest to you; and (3) to help us understand the size of our audience and their traffic patterns within the Sites. Some of our advertisers and third-party ad servers may also utilize their own cookies. Also, companies offering products or services through a 800HomeTours Web site may use their own cookies. Several of them may be part of the Network Advertising Initiative’s (“NAI”) Self Regulatory Principles Governing Online Preference Marketing. To read their Privacy Principles click here. To opt out of the NAI’s Online Preference Marketing, click here. In addition, we sometimes use “clear GIFs” in connection with cookies and other website functions. Clear GIFs perform administrative functions without detracting from the your online experience. They may be used to perform statistical and administrative tasks including measuring site and page traffic, verifying advertising avenues and positioning images on the web. Clear GIFs do not collect personal information.

Registration: The personal information you provide when you become a registered user of one of the Sites is used primarily to help us customize your online experience. This personal information may also be shared among the Sites to make your use of the Sites more convenient by, for example, limiting the number of times you have to register with us. Your e-mail address serves as a unique identifier in our record system, and it is used together with your password to prevent unauthorized access to any information you choose to store on the Sites. The data you give us about your personal preferences and demographics (e.g., your age, ZIP code, occupation or the like) may be used to help us offer content, advertisements, products, and services that we believe will be of interest to you. In addition, we may share this information, in aggregate form, with our current and potential advertisers so that they can present advertisements more effectively. If you forget your password for any registered area of the Sites, we have an automated password recovery system, which can be accessed by clicking on the “Forgot Password?” link on the sign in page. Customer Care does not have access to your password. Please note that we do not knowingly accept or store any Personally Indentifiable Information about any individual under the age of 13 under any circumstances. If we become aware that Personally Indentifiable Information regarding an individual under the age of 13 has been stored, we will promptly delete it from our records.

• For our Home Management System, “My HomeTours,” you may be required to submit information about yourself (including contact and financial information), your home and the products or services you use. This information is stored for your convenience and will not be used by other parties for marketing purposes without your consent and then only for the purposes of offering the products or services that you request (unless you indicate you prefer otherwise). Your e-mail address serves as a unique identifier in our record system, and it is used together with your password to prevent unauthorized access to any information you choose to store on the Sites. The data you give us about your personal preferences and other information (e.g., your age, ZIP code, occupation and the like) may be used to help us offer content, advertisements, products, and services that we believe will be of interest to you. In addition, we may share this information, in aggregate form, with our current and potential advertisers and marketing allies so that they can present advertisements and services more effectively.
• Unless you specify that you’d prefer not to hear from us, we may also use the e-mail address you provide at the time of registration to contact you for promotional or other purposes. You may have these communications terminated at any time. If you indicate that you’re interested in hearing from other companies, we may also share your Contact Information with such companies for that purpose. We may have to contact you now and then to inform you of changes to your service, a change in this Privacy Policy or other administrative purposes. These administrative e-mails will not contain any advertisements.

Tools: The Sites allow you to use many helpful tools, such as financial and home improvement calculators, real estate search tools and other tools most of which will not ask you to disclose any personal information. These tools are for your benefit, and the information you submit when you use them (typically impersonal data) is not disclosed to anyone or used for any purpose other than to provide you with the service you’re seeking. However there are several online tools where we may ask your permission to use the personal information you enter in order to offer services, products or information that we believe may be of use to you or to merge such information into your profile registration. When using such tools you will always be given the opportunity to opt-out of sharing or storing such information.

User-Requested Services: You may choose to request products or services of a more substantial or personal nature when using the Sites. For example, you may apply for a loan, request our help in locating a remodeling contractor, store your preferences for convenience in using the Sites or make an online purchase. The information you provide when seeking these services may be used in the following ways:

• For services provided by the Sites, the information you submit is used by us to provide the service you’ve requested. We may also share this information with subcontractors, but only to the extent necessary to fulfill your request or to facilitate your use of their services. For instance, we may use your information on My HomeTours to pre-populate a form to be sent to the provider of a service you request, but the information will not be transmitted for use in providing the service by that provider until you choose to submit the information to them. In addition, we may use the contact information and non-financial order information you’ve supplied, such as your e-mail address, as set out in the registration section, above. Further, for tools, we may, with your permission, contact you by phone to request additional information to help you find products and services that we believe you will find useful. You are not required to cooperate with any telephone requests by 800HomeTours. Also some tools on 800HomeTours® sites may contain tools that require you to submit information about yourself 800HomeTours® may only use your information for the purposes of responding to your request and providing services to you. If the service you request requires submission of financial information, such as a credit card number for an online purchase, rest assured that this financial information is used only for processing your payment, and is not retained after completion of your order. We may, however, store your non-financial order information for accounting purposes and to help us understand your preferences better, so that we can offer you products or services in the future that you may find useful.
• For products and services offered to you jointly by us and a third party, your personal information may be shared with or independently gathered by the third party. In these situations, 800HomeTours will only use your personal information as outlined in this Privacy Policy, but the third party may use the information in different ways. You can tell when a product or service is offered by a third party, because a page of the Sites will be “co-branded” and will display the third party’s logo and/or name along with our own, or you will be linked to the third party’s site to complete the transaction. Please be aware that each company we do business with has its own policies regarding the use and protection of your information that may differ from those outlined in this Privacy Policy. If you are concerned about how your personal information might be used or protected by a third party, we encourage you to become familiar with its Privacy Policy before using the service or requesting the product.
• From time to time, we may wish to use personal information you provide when requesting a product or service for purposes beyond those listed above. If this is the case, you will always be notified of the additional use prior to your submitting the personal information, and you’ll be given a chance to opt-out of that use or to not complete the request for the particular product or service.

Solicited Information: You may occasionally see contests, surveys and other features of the Sites that ask you to provide us with personal information. When you choose to respond to these requests, the personal information you offer may be used for several purposes. These include the uses set out in the registration section above. They also include providing information to third parties as necessary for prize fulfillment and other aspects of any contest, sweepstakes, game or other promotion. If we are going to use your personal information for any other purpose, we will notify you of that purpose and give you a chance to opt-out before responding to our survey or participating in our contest, sweepstakes, game or other promotion. Any contest, sweepstakes, game or other promotion that is accessible through the Site is governed by specific rules. By entering any such contest, sweepstakes, game or other promotion, you will become subject to those rules. We urge you to read the applicable rules, which are linked from the particular contest, sweepstakes, game or other promotion.

User-Initiated Communication: Portions of the Sites enable you to send e-mail to us or to third parties (such as Real Estate Professionals) and to participate in public bulletin boards and discussion groups. All postings to public bulletin boards and discussion groups become our property. Whenever you choose to initiate these kinds of communication with us, or anyone else, you may expect to be contacted in return. Also, remember that our bulletin boards and discussion groups are open to the public, and therefore, your postings can be seen by anyone and are not protected by us or any other entity. Please use your own discretion when deciding what to post publicly and whom to contact. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to edit or delete inappropriate postings from our bulletin boards and discussion groups; provided, however, the reservation of this right shall not, under any circumstances, obligate us to conduct such editing or deletions.

Referrals: If you participate in any referral service we may offer, we will use the information you submit to determine which of our participating professional(s) may be able to serve your needs. We may then forward your name, Contact Information and other responses contained on our sign-up form to the selected professional(s), who may then contact you using that information. Any information you provide also may be used by us in accordance with the uses set out in the registration section, above. In some cases we may store these communications to home professionals or other third parties, but solely for the purpose of assisting the professional in tracking their communications.

Automatically Gathered Data: The information gathered automatically by our system—such as your computer’s IP address, the kind of browser you’re using, and a record of your navigation through our site—may be used by 800HomeTours so we can understand how to make our sites convenient and useful to our audience. This information may also be shared among the Sites and used for similar purposes. In addition, we may share this information, in aggregate form, with our current and potential marketing allies and advertisers so they can know how to present their advertisements more effectively. When such data is aggregated, all Personally Indentifiable Information is eliminated.

What choices do I have regarding the use of my information?

Reading this Privacy Policy should help you understand how any information you share with us might be used. If you feel concerned about any of these uses, you might elect not to participate in certain services, features or products that we offer. We will never collect personal information about you without your knowledge, so the decision whether or not to share this information is completely up to you.

How do I "opt-out"?

You also have the ability to terminate e-mail correspondence from us at any time. You may be given the chance to opt-out of direct mailings when you disclose your e-mail address to us. Further, you can reply to any of our mails and type “Unsubscribe” in the subject line or send an e-mail to Privacy@800HomeTours.com with your request and we will promptly remove you from that particular e-mail service. To opt-out or request that we not use your My HomeTours profile information to market information to you, please e-mail HMSPrivacy@800HomeTours.com with your request.

If you feel concerned about the cookies that are sent between our computers and yours, you may, through your Web browser, either choose to reject them automatically, or have your computer prompt you before accepting them. Generally, this is done by selecting the appropriate cookies setting on your Web browser (usually found in “Internet Options” or “Preferences”). Please note, however, that some of our features and services depend on the use of cookies. Therefore, you will be unable to take advantage of those features if you choose not to accept cookies.

How can I access and change my information?

To view, edit or delete the personal information you submitted on the Sites during registration or elsewhere as described above, follow the instructions found in the “My Profile” or “Edit Your Profile” area of the Site(s) where you registered or submitted personal information.

What do I do if I no longer want Market Information sent to me?

If you would like us to no longer use your personal information we may gather from you to market information to you:

1. please send a request to Privacy@800HomeTours.com; or
2. for personal information submitted via My HomeTours, send a request to HMSPrivacy@800HomeTours.com.

How is my information protected?

Whenever personal information about you is stored on our computers, that information is password-protected from unauthorized access or use. In addition, this information is kept only on servers that are located behind a firewall, which makes their contents inaccessible to outside users.

Since your Social Security and financial information is especially sensitive, we take special care to keep it secure. We will only transmit or ask for this information over secure Internet connections, using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption, the currently accepted standard for online security, and security keys. In addition, we require password authentication from any third parties you’ve authorized to receive this information. Finally, your Social Security number, credit card number and financial information are rarely stored on our servers, as most orders are processed by our marketing allies providing the service or product requested. While this means you may have to enter this information more than once, we believe the added security is worth the extra effort. In those instances where we store such data, we protect the data on secure servers and transmit the information using secure Internet connections.

Of course, we appreciate your help in safeguarding the integrity of your own and others’ privacy. We hope you’ll use common sense whenever you disclose personal information over the Internet. Just as importantly, we encourage you to let us know immediately if you suspect that the information you share with us is being used in any way contrary to this Privacy Policy. Finally, unfortunately no data transmission over the Internet or the storage of information on servers can be guaranteed to be 100% secure and while we strive to protect your personal information (as described herein), we cannot guarantee or warrant its complete security. To contact us, please send an e-mail to: Webmaster@800HomeTours.com.

Scope of This Privacy Policy: Outside Links

This Privacy Policy only applies to the Sites. The Sites contain links to sites operated and maintained by third parties over which we have absolutely no control. Please be aware that these sites may collect information about you, and operate according to their own privacy practices that may differ from this Privacy Policy. Remember that once you’re outside the Sites, any information you submit is outside of our control.

Effective Date and Modifications

This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date first written above and may be updated and modified from time to time by us in our sole discretion. If we choose to update or modify this Privacy Policy, such updated or modified policy shall become effective upon its posting on the Site. Accordingly, we encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy and the Site in order to keep apprised of our current privacy practices. If you do not agree to any provision of this Privacy Policy, or any update or modification thereto, please do not use the Site.

Contacting Us

If you have concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices in general, contact us at:

Privacy Administrator
800HomeTours.com, Inc.
16 Garden Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
Fax: (650) 365-2501
E-mail: Privacy@800HomeTours.com