Privacy Policy

1. INTRODUCTION. Homestead collects information in different ways from Visitors and Users who access the various parts of our Services and the network of websites accessible through our Services. We use this information primarily to provide a customized experience as you use our Services and, generally, do not share this information with third parties. However, we may disclose personal information collected if we have received your permission beforehand or in very special circumstances, such as when we believe that such disclosure is required or permitted by law or other special cases described below.

2. REGISTRATION AND ACCOUNT INFORMATION. Users are asked to provide certain personal information when they sign up for our Services including name, postal address, email address, telephone number, billing information (such as a credit card number), and the type of personal computer being used to access the Services. In addition, for domain registrations, Users may be asked to submit the above listed personal information for the registrant, administrative, technical and billing contacts of a domain name for submission to the appropriate domain registry or registration database (collectively, "Domain Name Registration Information"). Users may 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. The personal information collected from Users through these forms is used to manage each User's account (such as for billing purposes) and provide Users with information about services that may be of interest to them. This information is not shared with third parties, unless specifically stated otherwise or in special circumstances. However, in instances where Homestead and a partner jointly promote the Services, Homestead may provide the partner certain personal information, such as the name, address, and username of persons who subscribed to the Services as a result of the joint promotion for the sole purpose of allowing us and the partner to assess the results of the promotion. In this instance, personal information may not be used by the partner for any other purpose. Homestead may also generate non-identifying and aggregate profiles from personal information Users provide during registration (such as the total number, but not the names, of Users). As explained in more detail below, we may in certain instances use this aggregated and non-identifying information to sell advertisements that appear on the Services.

3. DOMAIN REGISTRATION. In certain jurisdictions or pursuant to the rules of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") or certain registries, Domain Name Registration Information legally has to be available to the public. Where Domain Name Registration Information is available to the public, anyone can access it through "WHOIS" searches. The WHOIS database is a publicly accessible database that lists the domain name and contact information of the registrant, administrative, and technical contacts for the domain name, the nameserver(s), and the domain name's creation and expiration date. The Domain Name Registration Information you provide is hosted by us and provided to the public. At times, our Users may receive solicitations that result from searches of the publicly available WHOIS database conducted by other companies or individuals. However, the solicitation and/or SPAM they receive do not in any way come from Homestead and Homestead does not control the use of WHOIS information by third parties. Further, pursuant to ICANN rules, Homestead is required to make WHOIS data available to a third party that enters into a bulk access agreement. ICANN allows individuals to opt-out (using the account management panel, domain management console or similar service) of their WHOIS information being made available to third parties through bulk access; however, companies, businesses, and other organizations do not have the option to choose not to have their information made available to such a third party under a bulk access agreement. We may also deposit your Domain Name Registration Information with a third-party escrow provider to comply with ICANN requirements.

4. HOMESTEAD PARTNERS AND SPONSORS. Some products and services are offered to Visitors and Users in conjunction with a partner (e.g., domain registration and for joint promotions, as described in paragraph 2 above). To provide Visitors and Users with some of these products and services, the partner may need to collect and maintain personal information. In these instances, we will provide such data collected or transferred to our Partners and Sponsors. Additionally, many Homestead Users have co-branded pages that are co-sponsored by non-affiliated partners. Homestead will share non-identifying and aggregate information (except as described above), but not personally identifiable information of individual Users, with such partners in order to administer the co-branded products or services offered.

5. ONLINE SHOPPING. At some websites that you access through links on Homestead, you can purchase products and services or register to receive materials, such as a catalog or new product updates. In many cases, you may be asked to provide contact information, such as your name, address, email address, phone number, and credit/debit card information. If you complete an order for a Web site or service that is not provided by Homestead, Homestead has no control over the third parties' use of any personal information you provide when placing such an order and therefore we have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which the organizations that operate such linked websites may collect, use or disclose, secure and otherwise treat your personal information. Except as provided herein, we will not provide any of your personal information to these third parties without your consent. We provide links to these 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. If you order products directly from Homestead, we will use the personal information you provide only to process that order. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order.

6. ONLINE ADVERTISEMENTS. Homestead does not share personally identifiable information about its individual Visitors or Users with advertisers. Homestead may display online advertisements and may share aggregated and non-identifying information about our Visitors and Users collected through the registration process, as well as through online surveys and promotions with these advertisers. Additionally, in some instances, we use this aggregated and non-identifying information to deliver tailored advertisements. For instance, an advertiser tells us the audience they want to reach (for example, males between 25 and 55 years of age) and provides us 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.

7. RESPONSES TO EMAIL INQUIRIES. When Visitors or Users send email inquiries to Homestead, the return email address (and other personal information provided in the inquiry) is used to answer the email inquiry we receive. Homestead does not use the return email address for any other purpose and does not share the return email address with any third party.

8. VOLUNTARY CUSTOMER SURVEYS. We may periodically conduct both business and individual customer surveys. We encourage our Users to participate in these surveys because they provide us with important information that helps us to improve the types of services we offer and how we provide them to you. Your personal information and responses will remain strictly confidential, even if the survey is conducted by a third party. Participation in our customer surveys is voluntary. We take the information we receive from individuals responding to our Customer Surveys and combine (or aggregate) it with the responses of other Homestead Users to create broader, generic responses to the survey questions (such as gender, age, residence, hobbies, education, employment, industry sector, or other demographic information). We then use the aggregated information to improve the quality of our services to you, and to develop new services and products. This aggregated, non-personally identifying information, may be shared with third parties. Unless otherwise noted in the survey invitation or the survey itself, Users have the option of completing surveys anonymously or providing us with contact information. We may use the contact information to follow up with Users based on the answers they provide. We may also contact you to highlight the changes we have made in response to feedback.

9. SERVICE PROVIDERS. We may transfer (or otherwise make available) your personal information to our affiliates and other third parties who provide services on our behalf. For example, as discussed above, we may use service providers to authorize and process payments, administer surveys, and run our promotions. Your personal information may be maintained and processed by our affiliates and other third party service providers in the US or 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.

10. SALE OF BUSINESS. We may transfer your personal information as an asset in connection with a merger or sale (including transfers made as part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings) involving all or part of Homestead as part of a corporate reorganization or stock sale or other change in corporate control. Homestead may share personally identifiable information with other entities that are owned by Homestead or that own Homestead or that have some sort of corporate ownership relationship with Homestead.

11. SPECIAL CASES. It is Homestead's policy not to use or share the personal information about Visitors of Users in ways unrelated to the ones described above without your consent. However, Homestead, or our service providers, may disclose personal information about Visitors or Users, or information regarding your use of the Services or websites accessible through our Services, for any reason, in our sole discretion to comply with US, Canadian or other laws, such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, regulations, or governmental or legal requests or demands for such information; in response to a search warrant or other legally valid inquiry or order; to an investigative body in the case of a breach of an agreement or contravention of law; to disclose information that is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who, for example, may be violating our Acceptable Use Policy or other user policies; to operate the Services properly; to protect Homestead and our Users; or as otherwise permitted or required by law.

12. "COOKIES" AND HOW HOMESTEAD USES THEM. A "cookie" is a small data file that can be placed on your hard drive when you visit certain websites. Homestead 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. These cookies do not enable third parties to access any of your User information. You may set your Web browser to notify you when you receive a cookie. However, if you decide not to accept cookies, you may not be able to take advantage of all of the features of our Web site. Additionally, be aware that if you visit non-Homestead websites where you are prompted to log in or that are customizable, you may be required to accept cookies. Advertisers and partners may also use their own cookies. We do not control use of these cookies and expressly disclaim responsibility for information collected through them. In addition, Homestead utilizes cookies to track referrals from internal and external affiliates, as well as advertising campaigns.

13. HOMESTEAD STATISTICS. We use information gathered from our site statistics (for example, User IP addresses) to help diagnose problems with our servers, and to administer our Web site. We also gather broad demographic information from this data to help us improve our site and make your browsing and purchasing experience more enjoyable.

14. PUBLIC FORUMS AND SOCIAL MEDIA. Please remember that any information you may disclose in our User Directory, Spotlights/case studies, testimonials, Forums, Social Media account 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.

15. HOMESTEAD'S 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 transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personally identifiable information, 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 site 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.

    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).

    Data related to the services will be maintained in the US. We have personal information retention processes designed to retain personal information of our customers for no longer than necessary for the purposes stated above or to otherwise meet legal requirements.

16. HOW TO ACCESS OR MODIFY YOUR INFORMATION. You have the right 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 information 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 by logging into your account and clicking on the "Account" drop-down menu and selecting "Contact Info & Security".

17. UNSUBSCRIBE FROM HOMESTEAD MESSAGING. Except as otherwise contemplated in this Privacy Policy, as a paying Homestead Member, if you do not want to receive messages from Homestead about new features or products, tips on product use, and promotions, you can indicate your preference by clicking the respective box of your choice. You can unsubscribe from receiving such information by logging into your account and clicking on the "Account" drop-down menu and selecting "Contact Info & Security". If you would ever like to start receiving messages, you can always update your profile accordingly.

    If you are using Homestead's free trial service for thirty (30) days and wish to unsubscribe from receiving promotional messages, you must call our service line at 1-800-710-1998. A Homestead representative will ask you for your email address at which point you may request to decline the promotional messages.

    If you have been contacted by Homestead as a result of information you entered on any of our web sites or if you provided your personal information to Homestead for the purposes of receiving more information about a Homestead Service before choosing to sign up as a Member, and you no longer want to be contacted by Homestead, you can click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any email you receive and Homestead will remove you from the list of those who will be contacted with more information about the Homestead service.

    Please note: Homestead reserves the right to send you email communications that relate directly to your account.

18. HOW DO I UPDATE OR DEACTIVATE MY ACCOUNT? As a paying Homestead Member, you can control and update your contact information for Homestead Services by logging into your account and clicking on the "Account" drop-down menu and selecting "Contact Info & Security". If you wish to deactivate your Homestead Service, please log into your account and click on the "Help" drop-down menu and select "Account and Billing" and then select "Cancel Services".

    Free trial users, may access and update their personal information by calling 1-800-710-1998. Please provide the customer support representative your email address and identify the information that you wish to access and update. For free trial users who may wish to terminate the account, please call the service number above.

19. REVISIONS TO THIS POLICY. Homestead reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this policy, and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner. Notice of any revision, amendment, or modification will be posted in accordance with the Terms of Service.

This file was last modified September 17, 2012