LocalXpert Privacy Policy
Effective date: January 1, 2010
LocalXpert respects the privacy of our users and has developed this Privacy Policy to demonstrate its commitment to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy is intended to describe for you, as an individual who is a user of LocalXpert or our services, or otherwise provide us with information through various means such as requesting quotes from LocalXpert businesses, the information we collect, how that information may be used, with whom it may be shared, and your choices about such uses and disclosures.
We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully when using our website or services or transacting business with us. By using our website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please refer to the end of this Privacy Policy for information on how to contact us.
Collected Information
In the registration process, we collect registration information from our users, including name, user name, and password, contact information such as email, web site, address and telephone number, and billing information such as credit card number. Each of these different types of information is used to provide the LocalXpert service. Registration information is used to authenticate users and recall their profiles, contact information is used to both provide information on service updates and to promote the users business, and billing information is used to charge for our services.
In the operation of the LocalXpert service, we collect and store business and consumer information in order to provide lead generation and other connection services. This data is gathered from a variety of sources and enables us to prepare business sites, provide services to consumers with minimal data entry, and verify that sites are validly controlled by those who claim to represent businesses. LocalXpert will continue to make your data available to you on the LocalXpert platform as long as you are a user according to the terms and conditions of the LocalXpert Terms of Service. Please consult that agreement as well as this policy to understand your rights and responsibilities as a user of the LocalXpert platform.
LocalXpert may also collect and analyze from visitors and users certain information regarding the use of LocalXpert’s services and LocalXpert site activity. Information collected may include but is not limited to web site traffic volume, frequency of visits, type and time of transactions, type of browser and operating system, etc. This information is logged to help diagnose technical problems, administer the site, and improve the quality and types of service delivered. We may provide non-identifying and aggregate usage and volume statistical information derived from the actions of our visitors and customers to third parties in order to demonstrate the value we deliver to users.
Shared Information
We may share your personal or business information as described below:
Affiliated Businesses We Do Not Control: We anticipate that we may become affiliated with a variety of businesses and work closely with them. In certain situations, these businesses may operate stores at our website, sell items to you through the website or offer you products or services that may be of interest to you. In other situations, LocalXpert may provide services, or sell products jointly with affiliated businesses. You can easily recognize when an affiliated business is associated with a particular opportunity or transaction, and we will share user information that is related to such opportunity or transaction with that affiliated business.
Agents: We employ other companies and people to perform tasks on our behalf and need to share your information with them to provide products or services to you. Examples include sending email, analyzing data, and providing user services. Unless we tell you differently, LocalXpert’s agents do not have any right to use personal information we share with them beyond what is necessary to assist us.
Business profiles: Business profile information including business name, address, phone number and email address is displayed to users publicly in connection with our service. As part of our website and our services, you will receive from LocalXpert and other users and partners of LocalXpert email and other communication relating to your business and/or the products and services you offer. You may also, from time-to-time, receive promotional emails from LocalXpert partners. You can choose to opt out of these email communications at any time.
Business Transfers: In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. Moreover, if LocalXpert, or substantially all of its assets were acquired, or in the unlikely event that LocalXpert goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer of LocalXpert may continue to use your information as set forth in this policy.
Protection of LocalXpert and Others: We may release personal and business information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with law; enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of LocalXpert, our employees, our users, or others. This includes, without limitation, exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection.
With Your Consent: Except as set forth above, you will be notified when your personally identifiable individual information may be shared with third parties, and will be given the option to prevent the sharing of this information.
Cookies
LocalXpert uses cookies to assist in delivering the service and to provide a positive and personalized user experience. Cookies are files sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Our persistent and session ID cookies are used to identify unique visitors to our sites and to provide you with easy access to your files. In addition, LocalXpert may uses third-party advertising companies to serve ads and send cookies to your computer. Such cookies may be used to tailor content, goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.
Third Party Sites
LocalXpert sites are collaborative, and may contain links to multiple third party sites on the Internet, including many that have different privacy and security policies and practices than LocalXpert. LocalXpert makes no representations or warranties about and is not responsible for the policies and practices of sites that are linked to by LocalXpert or its users. We urge you to consult the policies available on those sites to further understand their practices.
Security
LocalXpert has implemented processes designed to protect user information and maintain security. Each registered user is assigned a unique user name and password which is required to access their user information. It is the user’s responsibility to protect the security of their login information. LocalXpert’s servers are located in secure server environments. Firewalls and other security technologies are employed to prevent interference or access from outside intruders, however, LocalXpert cannot guarantee the security of user account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of user information at any time.
Accessing, Correcting and Revising Registration and Contact Information
If you need to update or change your registration information, you may do so by editing your user record on the LocalXpert service. To update your record, log on to the LocalXpert system and select the available site management pages.
If you choose to cancel your account and leave the LocalXpert service, please be aware that LocalXpert may for a time retain residual information in our backup and/or archival copies of our database.
How we protect your personal information
We take appropriate security measures (including physical, electronic and procedural measures) to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, only authorized employees are permitted to access personal information, and they may do so only for permitted business functions. In addition, we use firewalls to help prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to your personal information.
We want you to feel confident using our website to transact business. However, no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information, searches, or other communications will always remain secure. Users should also take care with how they handle and disclose their personal information and should avoid sending personal information through insecure email. Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission’s website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data.shtm for information about how to protect yourself against identity theft.
Answering Questions, Blogs and Reviews
We may provide areas on our websites where you can post information about yourself and others and communicate with others, as well as post reviews of businesses, products, establishments, contractors, and the like, or upload content (e.g. pictures, videos, audio files, etc.). Such postings are governed by our Terms of Use. In addition, such postings may appear on other websites or when searches are executed on the subject of your posting. Also, whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information on publicly-viewable web pages, that information will be publicly available and can be collected and used by others. For example, if you post your email address, you may receive unsolicited messages. We cannot control who reads your posting or what other users may do with the information you voluntarily post, so we encourage you to exercise discretion and caution with respect to your personal information.
Children’s privacy
As a business service, LocalXpert does not target its offerings toward, and does not knowingly collect any personal information from users under 13 years of age.
Visiting our websites from outside the United States
This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on our website from residents of the United States. If you are visiting our website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. Please be assured that we seek to take reasonable steps to ensure that your privacy is protected. By using our services, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this privacy policy.
No Rights of Third Parties
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require disclosure of any personal information relating to users of the website.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices and services. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will notify you by sending an e-mail to the e-mail address you most recently provided us in your account, profile or registration (unless we do not have such an email address), and/or by prominently posting notice of the changes on our website. We recommend that you check our website from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of our other policies.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our information-handling practices, or if you would like to request information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, please contact us by e-mail or postal mail as follows:
Privacy Officer
LocalXpert
PO Box 410209
San Francisco, CA 94141
info@localxpert.com
LocalXpert is a collection of highly targeted local business web sites where business owners and professional experts in various fields can answer questions from members of their local community. Local business owners are free to post their company information and answer questions related to their goods and services, so consumers in the area can find only the most relevant local products and services.
