Privacy Policy

RealAge, Inc., values the privacy of all of our readers. We take very seriously the need to respect and protect your privacy and the security of any information you may share with us. We've built a site that allows you to control how much information you give us and how that information is used. This privacy policy ("Policy") describes the data collection, use, and disclosure practices of RealAge, Inc., in connection with the Web Site, www.RealAge.com (the "Web Site" or "Site").

This Policy applies to information collected only directly through or from the RealAge Web Site. It does not apply to personal information collected from offline resources and communications, such as information you may send to us in a postal letter or give to us in a phone call. This Policy also does not apply to third-party online resources to which RealAge Web Sites may link, because RealAge does not control their content or their privacy practices.

Please read our Policy carefully. Your understanding of how we use any information you provide -- and your trust that we will use it carefully -- are very important both to you and to us. Why? Because it helps us provide more relevant, useful information to you. If you have any questions about our data collection, use, or disclosure practices, please contact us in any of the ways listed at the end (Section 17). Please also be sure to read our complete Terms of Use (this Privacy Policy is a part of it).

1) What Information Do We Collect?

RealAge's purpose is to provide you with detailed healthcare information (like your RealAge calculation and plan), so we may request correspondingly detailed personal health information from you. Certain information is necessary for us to provide one or more RealAge services to you. For a full description of these services, see Section 4, "How We Use the Information We Collect." Other information is optional; if you elect not to provide optional information, it may limit the value of what RealAge can provide for you. For example, if we do not have information on a health condition you may have -- such as high blood pressure -- we will not be able to provide information about how best to manage your diet and lifestyle to improve your health. (That includes information on medications that may help you manage a diagnosed condition like high blood pressure.) In short, the more information we have about you, the more valuable RealAge can be to you.

We collect two types of information on RealAge. The first, "Personal Information," is information that allows someone to identify or contact you, such as your name and e-mail address, as well as any information about you that is associated with or linked to any of the foregoing information. The second type, "Anonymous Data," is data not associated with or linked to your Personal Information. Anonymous Data cannot be used to identify you. We collect Personal Information and Anonymous Data based on your participation on RealAge.

2) Participation on RealAge

You can take advantage of the services offered on RealAge in two ways -- as a Registrant or as a Member. We'll explain the differences.

Registrant
When you take the RealAge Test or participate in most other interactive services on our Site, you are required to register by giving us your user name, e-mail address, date of birth, gender, zip code, and password. We call that your "Registration Information." That Registration Information is recognized by all of RealAge's Affiliates (they're described in Section 12, "About Our Affiliates"). This means you can use the same user name and password to take advantage of services offered on the Web sites of our Affiliates. Please note that if you visit an Affiliate's Web site, you will be leaving RealAge, and anything you do on those sites will be governed by the privacy policy of the Affiliate.

Member
You may also choose to participate in activities on RealAge as a Member. After you have given us your Registration Information, we will ask you if you would like to become a Member. If you say yes, we will periodically send you free health newsletters and e-mails that contain high-quality health and lifestyle information; directly promote the use of RealAge Web Sites (which include RealAge.com, DogAge.com, and CatAge.com) and the sites of our Affiliates; and may offer products or services for purchase.

These free health newsletters and e-mails may contain, in whole or in part, advertisements for third parties that we think may be of interest to you, based on your responses to the RealAge Test and other information we collect about you on the Site. We will NOT give your Personal Information to those advertisers (see Section 4, "How We Use the Information We Collect"). If you don't want us to send you free health newsletters and e-mails, you should not become a Member; you will still have access to all the other tools and services on the Site as a Registrant.

By becoming a Registrant or a Member, you have agreed to let us show you advertising on the Site targeted to your personal health interests (for a full description of how this happens, see Section 5, "How We Display Ads on Our Site"). As with most Web sites, we accept advertising and sponsorships as a way of keeping the articles, tools, assessments, and newsletters free to RealAge users. If you don't want to see such ads, you should not become a RealAge Member or Registrant.

3) How We Collect Information from You

RealAge will collect information from you when you interact with us in the following ways:

a) Cookies
As with most sites on the Internet, when you visit our Site, RealAge may place a "cookie" on your computer that enables us to give you a better experience on the Site.

• Internet cookies are small text files that save data about you as an individual visitor and help RealAge deliver personalized content and other services in a manner convenient to you. When you first register or sign in, RealAge places your member ID and e-mail address into a cookie file.
• If you select "Remember Me" when signing up or signing in, RealAge also places your e-mail address and password into another, separate cookie file.
• Many Web browsers are automatically set to accept cookies. You may change your browser settings to either reject cookies or notify you when a cookie is about to be placed on your computer. Please note, however, that rejecting cookies while visiting RealAge may result in certain parts of the Site not operating correctly or as efficiently as they would with cookies. For example, if you are a RealAge Member without a cookie, you may need to enter your username and password each time you visit the Site in order to see your RealAge calculation. If you allow cookies, it streamlines your user experience on RealAge and keeps track of your preferences.
• RealAge uses two companies -- DoubleClick and Google -- to serve the ads you see in many places on our Site. Below is an explanation (excerpted directly from DoubleClick's Web site) of the DoubleClick DART cookie that may be stored on your computer as a result of using RealAge.

b) IP Address
An "IP Address" is actually a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. In some cases, your IP address stays the same from session to session; but if you use a consumer Internet access provider (such as Earthlink or AT&T), your IP address probably varies from session to session. We track IP addresses solely in conjunction with session cookies to analyze our Web page flow.

c) Action Tags
We use single pixel GIFs (also known as action tags or web beacons) on the Site and also in HTML-based e-mails to let us know which e-mails sent by us have been opened by recipients (including anyone to which the e-mails have been forwarded). Therefore, if you cannot see images when viewing a RealAge e-mail, we do not know if you open that particular e-mail. Similarly, if you receive your e-mail from us in text format (i.e., no pictures or graphics), we do not know if you open that particular e-mail. This information helps us assess the effectiveness of certain communications and marketing campaigns.

d) Other Systems
Information is also collected from you when:

• You fill out forms on our Site, including registration forms, the RealAge Test, other tests, tools, and assessments.
• You interact with the message boards and post comments on articles.
• You click on advertisements on the Site or in one of the free health newsletters and e-mails you receive from RealAge.
• You invite someone else to join RealAge through our Web Site's sharing tools -- in that case, we will collect your name and e-mail address, as well as the other person's e-mail address, in order to send this e-mail; if you decide to invite someone else to take the RealAge Test and they subsequently register with us, we will collect and save the other person's e-mail address, as we would for anyone who registers on the Site.

Also, in most instances we include certain tracking links that allow us to monitor whether you accessed specific content or advertisements. If you click on one of these links, we will record that click and certain activities on the RealAge Web page associated with that tracking link. We may use this information for various purposes, such as to conduct internal research on our users' demographics, interests, and clicking behavior and to customize the content and advertisements you see.

4) How We Use the Information We Collect

When you register with RealAge, we use your Personal Information to create a customized Web experience for you and to improve our services. We may use Personal Information to:

• Calculate your RealAge and process your answers to quizzes in ways that provide you with tailored information regarding your health.
• Present you with advertising on the Site, based on the health interests you listed in Personal Information.
• Improve the content and layout of RealAge.
• Statistically analyze user behavior.
• Receive feedback on editorial content.
• Develop products, marketing, and promotions internally at RealAge.
• Contact you regarding your account status or changes to our Terms and Conditions, including our Privacy Policy.

In addition, when you become a RealAge Member, we will use your Personal Information to provide other services, including:

• Providing you with personalized health and wellness information via e-mail and/or postal mail.
• Sending you targeted advertising via e-mail and/or postal mail.
• Contacting you for feedback and surveys via e-mail and/or postal mail.
• Sending you general and administrative information about your RealAge membership via e-mail and/or postal mail.

Like most Web sites, we accept advertising and sponsorships. That's how we are able to provide our health newsletters and Site to you at no charge. RealAge uses your Personal Information in the course of operating our business in several ways, which include:

• Providing your Registration Information to our third-party service providers -- who must agree NOT to use or disclose that information for any other purpose and whose role is solely to provide operational support for RealAge. These third-party service providers include companies that we use, for example, to send out our e-mail newsletters and provide security for the data that you share with us. RealAge strives to ensure that any third-party service provider to which RealAge discloses Personal Information is contractually obligated to use the Personal Information solely for the purposes for which it was disclosed, even though these third-party service providers are independent companies over which RealAge exercises no control. RealAge is not responsible for, and will not be liable for, their conduct, actions, omissions, or information handling or dissemination practices.
• Adding your e-mail address to certain "suppression lists" -- that is, lists of advertisements that you have told us you no longer wish to see. From time to time, RealAge may host a suppression list on an advertiser's behalf; in those cases, we forward any e-mail addresses we collect to the advertiser to be added to a specific advertisement's suppression list.
• Merging your Registration Information with other, optional types of Personal Information that you provide to us voluntarily, such as merging your health-related information from taking the RealAge Test with your responses to surveys, health assessments, and questionnaires. In other words, we will combine basic Registration Information you provide to us (e-mail address, username, password, age, gender, and zip code) with additional information you provide. This lets us send you relevant e-mails and display advertising to you on our Site that we think will be of interest, as further described in Section 5, "How We Display Ads on Our Site."
• Merging your Personal Information with other information we collect about you, based on your activity on our Site. For example, if you read an article on a particular health topic (say, cholesterol), we will note it on your profile. We do this so that we can provide you content and advertising that is more relevant and of greater interest to you (in this example, information about cholesterol).
• Combining your Personal Information with outside records, such as postal data and other demographic data. We do this to conduct research, improve the quality of our services, and send you printed health and wellness information -- sponsored by our advertisers -- by postal mail that we believe may be of interest to you. We also use that merged information to send you relevant e-mails and to display advertising to you on our site that we think will be of interest, as further described in Section 5, "How We Display Ads on Our Site."
• Participating in market research activities through RealAge, including health surveys. When you take part in such activities, we may ask you to submit Personal Information such as health and lifestyle data about you and your family. However, our reports and analyses to clients and partners are made only on an anonymous basis, using Anonymous Data. Our clients and partners never see any single individual's Personal Information and CANNOT associate any of the information they receive with a particular individual.
• Matching the Personal Information you provide to us with information from other sources, including prescription information. We use this information to perform market research and to prepare reports and analyses for our clients. But again, our reports and analyses to clients and partners are made only on an anonymous basis, using Anonymous Data. Our clients and partners never see any single individual's Personal Information and CANNOT associate any of the information they receive with a particular individual.

We do not send or support the delivery of unsolicited bulk e-mail (a.k.a. "spam").

5) How We Display Ads on Our Site

We think advertising is more useful when it is tailored to your interests. Since RealAge users are interested in bettering their health and lifestyle, we use information about their health to deliver ads.

We display ads on our Site to our Registrants and Members based on the Personal Information provided to us when taking the RealAge Test or participating in other interactive features, as well as Anonymous Data collected via technology. For example, if when taking the RealAge Test you indicated that you are interested in diet and exercise, you might be shown an advertisement about nutrition or physical fitness.

RealAge users who do not become Members or Registrants receive advertisements solely on the basis of Anonymous Data.

Advertising is served on RealAge in the following ways:

• By RealAge directly -- in some cases using RealAge-controlled third-party ad-serving technology or by using an advertiser's third-party ad-serving technology, though in both cases, no Personal Information is shared with or accessible by the ad-serving platform.
• By ad-serving networks that track user activity across a variety of Web sites.

If you are a Registrant or Member and want RealAge to stop using health information to serve you ads, click here to delete your account. If you would like more information about network advertising and about not having this information used by these companies, click here: http://networkadvertising.org/consumer/opt_out.asp.

When you click on the third-party advertisements or links displayed on RealAge, you will leave our Site and go to another site. During this process, a third party (including a third-party advertising service that may provide services to an advertiser) may collect Personal Information or Anonymous Data from you, such as the URL you just came from, the URL you go to next, your browser type, and your IP address. Our display of advertisements or links to any other company or site is for your convenience and does not signify our endorsement of such company or site (or the contents of the site). We have no control over, we do not review, and our Privacy Policy does not apply to these other companies, sites, or content, or to any collection of data after you click on an advertisement of or link to a third party. RealAge may from time to time be syndicated to Affiliates or third parties, and you may be served ads from advertisers selected by those parties.

6) Your Choices Regarding Your Personal Data

As a convenience to our Members, we provide a number of ways to review and change information in your account and to unsubscribe from RealAge services. For one, you can go to the RealAge Site and log onto your account page to make any desired changes. Similarly, each e-mail message you receive from us contains one or more links to RealAge that allow you to conveniently access this information. Or you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking here.

To request that your health information which has been voluntarily provided to RealAge through registration, online forms, or surveys be removed from our database, click here. When we delete your health information, you will continue to be registered with us, and if you are a RealAge Member, you'll continue to get the free health newsletters and e-mails that you have told us you want to receive.

7) Blogs, Videos, and Other User-Generated Postings; Social Networking

If you choose to post material to any blogs or forums, participate in our social networking channels, or in any other community features that may be offered from time to time on our Sites, you will be solely responsible for all content, messages, text, files, images, graphics, photos, audio clips, sounds, videos, or other materials (the "Postings"). You agree and warrant that any Postings you make on the Site will be true and accurate, will not defame any person or invade any person's privacy, and will not infringe upon the proprietary rights of any person. You agree not to make any Postings to which you do not own the rights. By making Postings, you understand and acknowledge that visitors to RealAge may post comments about your Postings which may be derogatory, and that RealAge has no obligation to monitor or delete any such comments. You also acknowledge that any information you may receive from another advice-giver on our Site is not a substitute for professional medical information or advice and is governed by the disclaimers and limitations set forth in our Terms of Use.

RealAge reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor Postings. RealAge does not and cannot monitor all of the Postings made to the Sites and will not be responsible for the content of any Postings. RealAge has no obligation to verify the accuracy of any personally identifying information posted to our Sites. However, RealAge reserves the right to delete any material in any Posting that is obscene, harassing, offensive, or otherwise objectionable and not in keeping with the community standards of RealAge. Under no circumstances will RealAge be liable for any inaccuracy or defect in any Postings. We also expect our users to adhere to certain rules. Therefore, you agree not to post, e-mail, or otherwise make available Postings:

• That are unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, pornographic, libelous, or invasive of another's privacy or harmful to minors in any way.
• That harass, degrade, intimidate, or are hateful toward an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability.
• That include personal or identifying information about another person without that person's explicit consent.
• That are false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, misinformative, constitute "bait and switch," or impersonate any person or entity.
• That contain your own or a third party's advertising, branding, or promotional content.
• That infringe upon any proprietary rights, including copyright, of any party, or Postings that you do not have a right to make available.
• That restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the RealAge Sites or the RealAge services offered on them.

Because RealAge does not monitor the Postings, you agree to use and rely on them at your own risk. RealAge cannot make any representation or warranty about the material contained in the Postings. RealAge likewise assumes no responsibility for any contact you may have with other users of our Sites, either online or offline. If you elect to meet in person with someone you may meet on our Sites, you do so at your own risk; under no circumstances will RealAge be liable for any activity or injury that may occur.

8) Legal Disclosure

RealAge may disclose information about you and your use of the RealAge Web Site and the RealAge services if RealAge believes such disclosure is reasonably necessary in order to:

(i) Comply with the law or legal process where a formal request has been made, such as from an administrative oversight agency, civil suit, subpoena, court order, or judicial or administrative proceeding;
(ii) Protect or defend the rights or property of RealAge or others;
(iii) Enforce the RealAge Terms and Conditions or this Privacy Policy;
(iv) Respond to claims that the content(s) of a communication violates the rights of another.

Also, circumstances may arise where, for business reasons, RealAge may decide to reorganize, or divest all or part of its business through sale, assignment, merger, or acquisition. In these circumstances, personal information may be shared with the actual or prospective purchasers or assignees. In such an event, we shall provide notice of any material change to this Privacy Policy, or our services, in the manner described in the Updates section of this Privacy Policy (see Section 16).

9) Sweepstakes, Give-Aways, and Contests

We may conduct give-aways, contests, and other promotions on the Site in which we may ask you for additional information. We will use and treat this information as Personal Information in accordance with the terms of this Policy. Participation in such give-aways and contests is not necessary to use RealAge, and whether you may choose to participate in any particular give-away or contest or not will not affect your general use of the Site.

10) Security

RealAge has implemented security measures intended to prevent the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under its control. Our hardware infrastructure is housed in a controlled-access facility that restricts access to authorized individuals with positive identification. Our network access to the infrastructure is protected by a firewall protection system. Member information is backed up on a periodic basis to protect against accidental loss. You have the option when you enter personally identifiable information (e.g., registration, health profile questions, surveys) to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption to protect your information during its transmission across the Internet. We use secure digital certificates to assist with verification that you're actually using RealAge.com and have not been diverted to an imposter Web site. We restrict the access of our staff and contractors to your information. Third-party marketing partners receive your information only under the substantial restrictions, imposed by you and/or us, described elsewhere in this Policy.

However, we cannot guarantee that communications between you and RealAge will not be intercepted by others, and that information stored on our servers will be free from unauthorized access. While we have taken reasonable precautions to protect this information, you should always use discretion in what information you send to us and not expect that such information will be absolutely free from intrusion. The confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to or from RealAge cannot be and is not guaranteed. Accordingly, RealAge is not responsible for the security of information transmitted via the Internet.

Please note that RealAge does not request Personal Information by sending e-mails. We only collect such information on our Site. If you receive an e-mail purporting to be from us that solicits Personal Information, do not respond to it. Instead, please contact our Member Services staff immediately.

11) Wireless Addresses

If the e-mail address you provide to us is a wireless e-mail address, you agree to receive messages at such address (unless and until you have elected not to receive such messages by notifying us at info@RealAge.com with the subject line, "Unsubscribe"). You understand that your wireless carrier's standard rates apply to these messages. You represent that you are the owner or authorized user of the wireless device on which messages will be received, and that you are authorized to approve the applicable charges.

12) About Our Affiliates

RealAge, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst Magazines, a division of Hearst Communications, Inc. As such, RealAge.com operates as part of the Hearst Digital Media Network, a network of Web sites operated by Hearst Communications, Inc., the country's largest publisher of monthly consumer magazines. These are our current Affiliates (we may add additional Affiliates in the future; if we do, they will be posted here and on the Site, but the addition of new Affiliates shall not be deemed to necessitate a change to this Privacy Policy):

13) Children

RealAge services and Web Sites are not directed at children. They are designed for individuals who are 20 years of age or older. We will not request or knowingly collect information from an individual under age 20.

If you are a parent and you're worried about your children's activities or their privacy on our Site, we encourage you to e-mail us at privacy@RealAge.com.

14) A Note to Non-U.S. Users

YOU EXPRESSLY CONSENT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT. YOUR PERSONAL DATA MAY BE PROCESSED IN THE UNITED STATES. UNITED STATES LAWS REGARDING PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA MAY BE LESS STRINGENT THAN THE LAWS IN YOUR COUNTRY.

15) A Note to California and Canada Users

California and Canada residents have the right to know how their information may be shared with third parties who engage in direct marketing activities; this Privacy Policy explains our practices and how you can opt out of having your information shared for such purposes.

16) Updates

RealAge reserves the right, at any time and without notice, to add to, update, change, modify, or revise this Privacy Policy or our services simply by posting such change, update, or modification on the Web Site. Any such addition, update, change, modification, or revision will be effective immediately upon posting on the Web Site. Upon any material change to this Privacy Policy, or our services, we may also notify you by notification on the Site and/or notification delivered by e-mail if you are a current RealAge Member with a valid, deliverable e-mail address at the time of the material change.

If you do not accept the terms of this Policy, we ask that you do not register with RealAge.

17) Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this Web Site, or your dealings with RealAge, you can contact:

RealAge, Inc.
5375 Mira Sorrento Place, Suite 250
San Diego, CA 92121 USA
(858) 200-7171
privacy@RealAge.com

Contact us: info@RealAge.com

This privacy policy was last updated on July 23, 2009.