Pool Cost recognizes that your privacy is very important, and we take it seriously. This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes our policies and procedures on the collection, use, disclosure, and sharing of your personal information when you use the Pool Cost Platform.
This Privacy Policy applies to activities by Pool Cost, Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively “Pool Cost,” “we” or “us”). Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Privacy Policy have the meaning given to them in our Terms of Service.
Notice for California Residents
If you are a California resident, please see the section below titled Additional Information for California Residents.
The Information We Collect
We collect information directly from individuals, from third parties, and automatically through the Pool Cost Platform.
Account and Profile Information: When you create an account and profile on the Pool Cost Platform, we collect your name, contact information, demographic information, and other information you provide, such as topics that you know about or find interesting. Your name, photo, and any other information that you choose to add to your public-facing profile will be available for viewing by the public and other users of the Pool Cost Platform. Once you create a profile, others will be able to see in your profile certain information about your activity on the Pool Cost Platform, such as the questions and answers you post, your followers and who you follow, topics of interest to you, the information you list as credentials, and your edits to your content. For more information about your choices for publicly displayed information, see the section below about Your Choices.
Your Content: We collect the information and content that you post to the Pool Cost Platform, including your questions, answers, photos, and comments. Unless you have posted certain content anonymously, your content, date and time stamps, and all associated comments are publicly viewable on the Pool Cost Platform, along with your name. This also may be indexed by search engines and be republished elsewhere on the Internet in accordance with our Terms of Service. For more information about what you can change, see the below section on Your Choices.
Communications. When you communicate with us (via email, through the Pool Cost Platform, or otherwise), we may maintain a record of your communication.
Integrated Service Provider and Linked Networks. You can connect your existing Pool Cost account with certain third-party networks like Twitter or Google, for example (each a “Linked Network”). You can also elect to sign in or sign up to the Pool Cost Platform through a Linked Network. If you elect to sign up through or connect a Linked Network, we receive certain profile and account information about you from the Linked Network. These Linked Networks may also appear in your profile, so that people can find you on these Linked Networks. The specific information provided to us by Linked Networks is determined by you and such Linked Networks, and may vary by network. In all cases, the permissions page for the Linked Network will describe the information being shared. You should consult their respective privacy policies for information about their practices. You may elect to use information from the Linked Network to populate your profile on the Pool Cost Platform or to import your contacts to help you find and connect with them on the Pool Cost Platform or to invite them to join. For information on your choices, including how to disconnect a Linked Network from your Pool Cost profile, see the Your Choices section below. You may also elect to connect and make and receive payments to and from use through third-party networks (“Integrated Service Provider”); if you do so, you will be allowing us to pass to and receive from the Integrated Service Provider your login information and other user data for payment purposes.
Automatically Collected Information About Your Activity. We use cookies, log files, pixel tags, local storage objects, and other tracking technologies to automatically collect information about your activities, such as your searches, page views, date and time of your visit, and other information about your use of the Pool Cost Platform. We also collect information that your computer or mobile device provides to us in connection with your use of the Pool Cost Platform such as your browser type, type of computer or mobile device, browser language, IP address, mobile carrier, unique device identifier, location, and requested and referring URLs. We also receive information when you view content on or otherwise interact with the Pool Cost Platform, even if you have not created an account. For more information, see the “Cookies, Pixels and Tracking” section below and our Cookie Policy.
Engagement. We collect browsing information – such as IP address and location, date and time stamp, user agent, Pool Cost cookie ID (if applicable), URL, unique advertising or content identifiers (if applicable) and time zone, and other information about user activities on the Pool Cost Platform, as well as on third-party sites and services that have embedded our Pool Cost pixels (“Pixels”), widgets, plug-ins, buttons, or related services. See the section below about Pool Cost Ads and Personalization for more detailed information about how our Pixels may be used by publishers or users of our advertising services (“Ad Services”) on the Pool Cost Platform to enable personalization, as well as your choices related to advertising and personalization. We may also receive information about you from third parties, such as other users, partners (including ad partners), or our affiliated companies.
How We Use Your Information
We do not sell your personal information – such as your name and contact information – to third parties to use for their own marketing purposes. Pool Cost uses the information we collect for the following purposes:
How We Share Your Information
We share information as set forth below, and where individuals have otherwise consented:
Service Providers. We may share your information with third-party service providers who use this information to perform services for us, such as payment processors, hosting providers, auditors, advisors, consultants, customer service and support providers, as well as those who assist us in providing the Ad Services.
Affiliates. The information collected about you may be accessed by or shared with subsidiaries and affiliates of Pool Cost, Inc., whose use and disclosure of your personal information is subject to this Privacy Policy.
Business Transfers. We may disclose or transfer information, including personal information, as part of any merger, sale, and transfer of our assets, acquisition or restructuring of all or part of our business, bankruptcy, or similar event.
Legally Required. We may disclose your information if we are required to do so by law.
Protection of Rights. We may disclose information where we believe it necessary to respond to claims asserted against us or, comply with legal process (e.g., subpoenas or warrants), enforce or administer our agreements and terms, for fraud prevention, risk assessment, investigation, and protect the rights, property or safety of Pool Cost, its users, or others.
Your Content and Public Information. Your content, including your name, profile picture, profile information, and certain associated activity information is available to other users of the Pool Cost Platform and may also be viewed publicly. Public viewing includes availability to non-registered visitors and can occur when users share your content across other sites or services. In addition, your content may be indexed by search engines. In some cases, we may charge for access to your content and public information on the Pool Cost Platform. See the section below about Your Choices for information about how you may change how certain information is shared or viewed by others.
Metrics. We may share with our advertisers or publishers aggregate statistics, metrics and other reports about the performance of their ads or content in the Pool Cost Platform such as the number of unique user views, demographics about the users who saw their ads or content, conversion rates, and date and time information. We do not share IP addresses or personal information, but certain features may allow you to share your personal information with advertisers on our platform if you choose to do so. We may also allow our advertisers or publishers to use Pixels on the Pool Cost Platform in order to collect information about the performance of their ads or content.
Anonymized and Aggregated Data. We may share aggregated or de-identified information with third parties for research, marketing, analytics and other purposes, provided such information does not identify a particular individual.
As Directed by You. We may also share data as otherwise directed by you (for example, to fulfill a transaction).
Cookies, Pixels and Tracking
We and our third-party providers use cookies, clear GIFs/pixel tags, JavaScript, local storage, log files, and other mechanisms to automatically collect and record information about your usage and browsing activities on the Pool Cost Platform and across third-party sites or online services. We may combine this information with other information we collect about users. Below, we provide a brief summary of these activities. For more detailed information about these mechanisms and how we collect activity information please contact us.
Do-Not-Track Signals. Please note we do not change system behavior within the Pool Cost Platform in response to browser requests not to be tracked. You may, however, disable certain tracking by third parties as discussed in the Pool Cost Ads and Personalization section below. You may also opt out of tracking by Pool Cost Pixels, as described below in Pool Cost Ads and Personalization.
Pool Cost Ads and Personalization
We may display personalized content (including from third-party content publishers) and personalized ads (including sponsored content), based on information that we have collected via the Pool Cost Platform, and through our Pixels, widgets, and buttons embedded on third-party sites. We also may report aggregated or de-identified information about the number of users that saw a particular ad or content and related audience engagement information to users of our Ad Services and to publishers of content on the Pool Cost Platform. See Pool Cost’s privacy policy for more information about how our Pixels are used, and also see the Your Choices section below for information about opting out of tracking by our Pixels.
Advertisers who use our Ad Services may also provide us with information as part of their ad campaigns, including customer information (e.g., email addresses, phone numbers, or other contact information, demographic or interest data) in order to create custom audiences for personalizing their ad campaigns or for measuring the effectiveness of their ads; we only use this information to facilitate the particular advertiser’s campaign (including ad metrics and reporting to that advertiser); and we do not disclose this information to third parties (other than our service providers) unless required by law. We also do not disclose to the advertisers who use our Ad Services the names or contact information of their customers that were successfully reached as part of such campaigns without those customers’ consent.
Third-Party Ads on Pool Cost
As described in our privacy policy, we may also work with third parties such as network advertisers to serve ads on the Pool Cost Platform and on third-party websites or other media (e.g., social networking platforms), such as Google AdSense and Facebook Audience Network. These third parties may use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (including clear GIFs), Flash LSOs and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content to you.
In addition to opting out of tracking across sites by our Pixels (see Your Choices section below), you also may opt out of much interest-based advertising on third-party sites and through third-party ad networks (including Facebook Audience Network and Google AdSense). See Your Choices section below for more information about opting out of third-party ad networks.
How We Protect Your Information
The security of your information is important to us. Pool Cost has implemented safeguards to protect the information we collect. However, no website or Internet transmission is completely secure. We urge you to take steps to keep your personal information safe, such as choosing a strong password and keeping it private, as well as logging out of your user account, and closing your web browser when finished using the Pool Cost Platform on a shared or unsecured device.
Access and Amend Your Information
You may update or correct your account information at any time by logging in to your account. You may also make a number of other adjustments to settings or the display of information about you as described in more detail in the following section about Your Choices.
Your Choices
You may, of course, decline to submit information through the Pool Cost Platform, in which case we may not be able to provide certain services to you. You may also control the types of notifications and communications we send, limit the information shared within the Pool Cost Platform about you, and otherwise amend certain privacy settings. Here is some further information about some of your choices:
Anonymous Posts. You may post certain content anonymously, including questions and answers. In such event, your name is not displayed along with the content, and Pool Cost does not associate such content with your user ID and other profile data.
Your Content. You may edit or delete the answers that you post at any time. Any questions you have posted may remain on the Pool Cost Platform and be edited by other users. Any deleted content will be removed from third-party sites from which it has been shared via Pool Cost’s standard sharing features; however we have no control over deletions or changes to your content if it has been shared manually by others. When you make edits to your content, other users will be able to see the history of those edits in your profile activity and on content edit logs.
Adult Content. In your profile’s privacy settings, you can elect whether to receive adult content.
Emails and Notifications. When you join the Pool Cost Platform by signing up for an account or creating a profile, as part of the service, you will receive email digests containing content from the Pool Cost Platform that we believe may match your interests. You may also receive notices about other content from the Pool Cost Platform that may be of interest to you, such as Spaces that you follow or that match your interests. In addition, users may be able to send communications and invites to their imported contacts through their Pool Cost account, by email, text, or phone. You can manage all your email and notice preferences in your account profile settings, under your Emails and Notifications settings. If you opt out of receiving emails or other notifications about recommendations or other information we think may interest you, we may still send you transactional emails about your account or any services you have requested or received from us.
Third parties may comment on your postings within the Pool Cost Platform. In your profile, under your Privacy Settings, you can adjust whether to allow people to comment on your answers and posts. You can also adjust permissions about who you allow to send you messages on the Pool Cost Platform.
Followers. You can block the ability of another Pool Cost user to follow you by selecting the setting for this in the other user’s profile. You can change whether or not you follow other users.
Profile discoverability. You can adjust your settings to block others from discovering your account by searching for your name or using your contact information, including when another user imports their contacts from a third-party service.
Topics and Spaces. You can change topics and Spaces that you are affiliated within your profile.
Credentials. You can change your credentials that are displayed in your profile or in connection with a specific answer.
Indexed Search. In your privacy settings, you can control whether your profile and name is indexed by search engines. Changes to privacy settings may only apply on a going-forward basis; for example, your name (e.g., answers and profile) that has already been indexed by search engines may remain indexed for a period of time even after you have turned off indexing, as implementing this change is outside of our control.
Deleted or Deactivated Account. If you choose “Delete Account” in your profile’s “Privacy Settings,” then all of your content will be removed from public visibility on the Pool Cost Platform, and it may not be restored by us, even if you change your mind. If you choose “Deactivate Account,” then you will no longer receive any communications from us, and users will not be able to interact with you; however your content will remain on the Pool Cost Platform. Once you deactivate your account, you can reactivate it any time by choosing to log in.
Pixels. To opt out of tracking via the Pool Cost Pixels, please contact us. Opting out of Pixels tracking may impact our ability to personalize ads and content tailored to your interests. This setting is tied to your cookies, and, unless you are logged in to the Pool Cost Platform, will only be effective on the browser for which you have performed the opt-out.
Third-Party Ad Networks
For information about and to opt out of interest-based ads from many ad networks, go to:
Linked Networks. You may connect or disconnect your Linked Networks, such as Google, through the Account Settings tab in your profile settings, and you may access, amend and delete much of your profile information through your profile settings. Once you disconnect a Linked Network, we will not receive information from that Linked Network going forward unless you choose to reconnect it. You may also control whether the Linked Network is visible in your profile and, if you enable contact imports, how you message your contacts to find and connect with you on the Pool Cost Platform.
Pool Cost is headquartered in the United States, and has operations, entities and service providers in the United States and throughout the world. As such, we and our service providers may transfer your personal information to, or access it in, jurisdictions (including the United States) that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction. We will take steps to ensure that your personal information receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we process it.
Children’s Privacy
We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under the relevant age without parental consent, we take steps to delete that information.
Links to Other Websites
The Pool Cost Platform may contain links to third-party sites or online services. We are not responsible for the practices of such third parties, whose information practices are subject to their own policies and procedures, not to this Privacy Policy.
Additional Information for California Residents
This section provides information organized in accordance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) for residents of California about how we handle certain personal information we have collected over the past 12 months.
Categories of Personal Information. This Privacy Policy discloses the categories of personal information that we collect, use, and disclose in order to operate our business over the past 12 months.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties. Pool Cost may share your personal information with third parties and third parties may collect your personal information as described above in the How We Share Your Information section. In addition, as described in our Cookie Policy, we may also work with third parties such as network advertisers to serve ads on the Pool Cost Platform and on third-party websites or other media (e.g., social networking platforms), such as Google AdSense (more info here)
and Facebook Audience Network (more info here
). These third parties may use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (including clear GIFs), Flash LSOs and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content to you.
We do not collect personal information from consumers that we know are younger than 16 years old.
Requests for Deletion, Copy and Right to Know Your Information. California consumers have the right to make the following requests, which we endeavor to honor from non-California residents as well:
You may submit deletion, copy and right to know requests through the online form. You can also submit a deletion, copy and right to know request by emailing us at privacy@PoolCost.com
. You will need access to the email account associated with your Pool Cost account in order to verify your identity and complete this process.
Non-Discrimination. Pool Cost will not discriminate against you, including by denying or providing a different level or quality of goods or services should you choose to exercise your options under the CCPA.
Your California Privacy Rights under California’s Shine-the-Light Law. California law permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed their personal information (if any) for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the types of personal information disclosed to those parties. If you are a California resident and would like to request this information, please submit your request in an email to privacy@PoolCost.com
.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about our practices or this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@Pool Cost.com, or send mail to:
Pool Cost
C/O PoolMarketing.com
PO Box 278
Pilot Hill, CA 95664
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
If we change our privacy policies and procedures, we will post those changes on this page. If we make any changes to this Privacy Policy that materially change how we treat your personal information, we will endeavor to provide you with reasonable notice of such changes, such as via prominent notice in the Pool Cost Platform or to your email address of record, and where required by law, we will obtain your consent or give you the opportunity to opt out of such changes.