Welcome to the HOOMET Privacy Policy
When you use Hoomet services, you trust us with your information. This Privacy Policy is meant
to help you understand what data we collect, why we collect it and what we do with it. This is
important; we hope you will take time to read it carefully. And remember, you can find controls
to manage your information and protect your privacy and security at My Account.
Privacy Policy
There are many different ways that you can use our services – to search for and share
information, to communicate with other people or to create new content. When you share
information with us, for example by creating a Hoomet Account, we can make those services
even better – to show you more relevant search results and ads, to help you connect with people
or to make sharing with others quicker and easier. As you use our services, we want you to be
clear how we’re using information and the ways in which you can protect your privacy.
Our Privacy Policy explains:
What information we collect and why we collect it.
How we use that information.
The choices we offer, including how to access and update information.
We’ve tried to keep it as simple as possible, but if you’re not familiar with terms, such as
cookies, IP addresses, pixel tags and browsers, then read about these key terms first. Your
privacy matters to Hoomet, so whether you are new to Hoomet or a long-time user, please do
take the time to get to know our practices – and if you have any questions, contact us.
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Information that we collect
We collect information to provide better services to all of our users – from figuring out basic
stuff like which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you'll find most
useful, the people who matter most to you online, or which YouTube videos you might like.
We collect information in the following ways:
Information you give us. For example, many of our services require you to sign up for a
Hoomet Account. When you do, we’ll ask for personal information, like your name,
email address, telephone number or credit card to store with your account. If you want to
take full advantage of the sharing features we offer, we might also ask you to create a
publicly visible Hoomet Profile, which may include your name and photo.
Information we get from your use of our services. We collect information about the
services that you use and how you use them, like when you watch a video on YouTube,
visit a website that uses our advertising services or view and interact with our ads and
content. This information includes:
o Device information
We collect device-specific information (such as your hardware model, operating
system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information
including phone number). Hoomet may associate your device identifiers or phone
number with your Hoomet Account.
o Log information
When you use our services or view content provided by Hoomet, we
automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This includes:
details of how you used our service, such as your search queries.
telephony log information, such as your phone number, calling-party
number, forwarding numbers, time and date of calls, duration of calls,
SMS routing information and types of calls.
Internet protocol address.
device event information, such as crashes, system activity, hardware
settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request
and referral URL.
cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your Hoomet Account.
o Location information
When you use Hoomet services, we may collect and process information about
your actual location. We use various technologies to determine location, including
IP address, GPS and other sensors that may, for example, provide Hoomet with
information on nearby devices, Wi-Fi access points and mobile towers.
o Unique application numbers
Certain services include a unique application number. This number and
information about your installation (for example, the operating system type and
application version number) may be sent to Hoomet when you install or uninstall
that service or when that service periodically contacts our servers, such as for
automatic updates.
o Local storage
We may collect and store information (including personal information) locally on
your device using mechanisms such as browser web storage (including HTML 5)
and application data caches.
o Cookies and similar technologies
We and our partners use various technologies to collect and store information
when you visit a Hoomet service, and this may include using cookies or similar
technologies to identify your browser or device. We also use these technologies to
collect and store information when you interact with services we offer to our
partners, such as advertising services or Hoomet features that may appear on other
sites. Our Hoomet Analytics product helps businesses and site owners analyse the
traffic to their websites and apps. When used in conjunction with our advertising
services, such as those using the DoubleClick cookie, Hoomet Analytics
information is linked, by the Hoomet Analytics customer or by Hoomet, using
Hoomet technology, with information about visits to multiple sites.
Information we collect when you are signed in to Hoomet, in addition to information we obtain
about you from partners, may be associated with your Hoomet Account. When information is
associated with your Hoomet Account, we treat it as personal information. For more information
about how you can access, manage or delete information that is associated with your Hoomet
Account, visit the Transparency and choice section of this policy.
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How we use information that we collect
We use the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect and
improve them, to develop new ones and to protect Hoomet and our users. We also use this
information to offer you tailored content – like giving you more relevant search results and ads.
We may use the name that you provide for your Hoomet Profile across all of the services we
offer that require a Hoomet Account. In addition, we may replace past names associated with
your Hoomet Account, so that you are represented consistently across all our services. If other
users already have your email or other information that identifies you, we may show them your
publicly visible Hoomet Profile information, such as your name and photo.
If you have a Hoomet Account, we may display your Profile name, Profile photo, and actions
you take on Hoomet or on third-party applications connected to your Hoomet Account (such as
+1’s, reviews you write and comments you post) in our services, including displaying in ads and
other commercial contexts. We will respect the choices you make to limit sharing or visibility
settings in your Hoomet Account.
When you contact Hoomet, we keep a record of your communication to help solve any issues
you might be facing. We may use your email address to inform you about our services, such as
letting you know about upcoming changes or improvements.
We use information collected from cookies and other technologies, like pixel tags, to improve
your user experience and the overall quality of our services. One of the products we use to do
this on our own services is Hoomet Analytics. For example, by saving your language
preferences, we’ll be able to have our services appear in the language you prefer. When showing
you tailored ads, we will not associate an identifier from cookies or similar technologies with
sensitive categories, such as those based on race, religion, sexual orientation or health.
Our automated systems analyse your content (including emails) to provide you personally
relevant product features, such as customised search results, tailored advertising and spam and
malware detection.
We may combine personal information from one service with information, including personal
information, from other Hoomet services – for example, to make it easier to share things with
people you know. Depending on your account settings, your activity on other sites and apps may
be associated with your personal information in order to improve Hoomet’s services and the ads
delivered by Hoomet.
We will ask for your consent before using information for a purpose other than those set out in
this Privacy Policy.
Hoomet processes personal information on our servers in many countries around the world. We
may process your personal information on a server located outside the country where you live.
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Transparency and choice
People have different privacy concerns. Our goal is to be clear about what information we
collect, so that you can make meaningful choices about how it is used. For example, you can:
Review and update your Hoomet activity controls to decide what types of data, such as
videos that you’ve watched on YouTube or past searches, you would like saved with your
account when you use Hoomet services. You can also visit these controls to manage
whether certain activity is stored in a cookie or similar technology on your device when
you use our services while signed out of your account.
Review and control certain types of information tied to your Hoomet Account by using
Hoomet Dashboard.
View and edit your preferences about the Hoomet ads shown to you on Hoomet and
across the web, such as which categories might interest you, using Ads Settings. You can
also visit that page to opt out of certain Hoomet advertising services.
Adjust how the Profile associated with your Hoomet Account appears to others.
Control who you share information with through your Hoomet Account.
Take information associated with your Hoomet Account out of many of our services.
Choose whether your Profile name and Profile photo appear in shared endorsements that
appear in ads.
You may also set your browser to block all cookies, including cookies associated with our
services or to indicate when a cookie is being set by us. However, it’s important to remember
that many of our services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled. For example,
we may not remember your language preferences.
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Information that you share
Many of our services let you share information with others. Remember that when you share
information publicly, it may be indexable by search engines, including Hoomet. Our services
provide you with different options on sharing and removing your content.
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Accessing and updating your personal information
Whenever you use our services, we aim to provide you with access to your personal information.
If that information is wrong, we strive to give you ways to update it quickly or to delete it –
unless we have to keep that information for legitimate business or legal purposes. When updating
your personal information, we may ask you to verify your identity before we can act on your
request.
We may reject requests that are unreasonably repetitive, require disproportionate technical effort
(for example, developing a new system or fundamentally changing an existing practice), risk the
privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical (for instance, requests concerning
information residing on backup systems).
Where we can provide information access and correction, we will do so free of charge, except
where it would require a disproportionate effort. We aim to maintain our services in a manner
that protects information from accidental or malicious destruction. Because of this, after you
delete information from our services, we may not immediately delete residual copies from our
active servers and may not remove information from our backup systems.
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Information that we share
We do not share personal information with companies, organisations and individuals outside of
Hoomet unless one of the following circumstances applies:
With your consent
We will share personal information with companies, organisations or individuals outside
Hoomet when we have your consent to do so. We require opt-in consent for the sharing
of any sensitive personal information.
With domain administrators
If your Hoomet Account is managed for you by a domain administrator (for example, for
Hoomet Apps users) then your domain administrator and resellers who provide user
support to your organisation will have access to your Hoomet Account information
(including your emails and other data). Your domain administrator may be able to:
o view statistics regarding your account, such as statistics regarding applications
that you install.
o change your account password.
o suspend or terminate your account access.
o access or retain information stored as part of your account.
o receive your account information in order to satisfy applicable law, regulation,
legal process or enforceable governmental request.
o restrict your ability to delete or edit information or privacy settings.
Please refer to your domain administrator’s privacy policy for more information.
For external processing
We provide personal information to our affiliates or other trusted businesses or persons to
process it for us, based on our instructions and in compliance with our Privacy Policy and
any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
For legal reasons
We will share personal information with companies, organisations or individuals outside
Hoomet if we have a belief in good faith that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the
information is reasonably necessary to:
o meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental
request.
o enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential
violations.
o detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues.
o protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Hoomet, our users or the
public, as required or permitted by law.
We may share non-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners – like
publishers, advertisers or connected sites. For example, we may share information publicly to
show trends about the general use of our services.
If Hoomet is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, we will continue to ensure the
confidentiality of any personal information and give affected users notice before personal
information is transferred or becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
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Information security
We work hard to protect Hoomet and our users from unauthorised access to or unauthorised
alteration, disclosure or destruction of information that we hold. In particular:
We encrypt many of our services using SSL.
We offer you two-step verification when you access your Hoomet Account and a Safe
Browsing feature in Hoomet Chrome.
We review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including
physical security measures, to guard against unauthorised access to systems.
We restrict access to personal information to Hoomet employees, contractors and agents
who need to know that information in order to process it for us and who are subject to
strict contractual confidentiality obligations. They may be disciplined or their contract
terminated if they fail to meet these obligations.
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When this Privacy Policy applies
Our Privacy Policy applies to all of the services offered by Hoomet Inc. and its affiliates,
including YouTube, services Hoomet provides on Android devices, and services offered on other
sites (such as our advertising services), but excludes services that have separate privacy policies
that do not incorporate this Privacy Policy.
Our Privacy Policy does not apply to services offered by other companies or individuals,
including products or sites that may be displayed to you in search results, sites that may include
Hoomet services or other sites linked from our services. Our Privacy Policy does not cover the
information practices of other companies and organisations that advertise our services and that
may use cookies, pixel tags and other technologies to serve and offer relevant ads.
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Compliance and cooperation with regulatory authorities
We regularly review our compliance with our Privacy Policy. We also adhere to several self
regulatory frameworks, including the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. When we receive
formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We
work with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to
resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that we cannot resolve with our
users directly.
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Changes
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this
Privacy Policy without your explicit consent. We will post any Privacy Policy changes on this
page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice (including, for
certain services, email notification of Privacy Policy changes). We will also keep prior versions
of this Privacy Policy in an archive for your review.
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Other useful privacy and security-related materials
Further useful privacy and security-related materials can be found through Hoomet’s policies and
principles pages, including:
Information about our technologies and principles, which includes, among other things,
more information on
o how Hoomet uses cookies.
o technologies we use for advertising.
o how we recognise patterns like faces.
A page that explains what data is shared with Hoomet when you visit websites that use
our advertising, analytics and social products.
The Privacy Checkup tool, which makes it easy to review your key privacy settings.
Hoomet’s safety centre, which provides information on how to stay safe and secure
online.
We keep your personal information private and safe — and
put you in control.
