PawBoost.com Privacy Policy
This Policy was last modified on April 27, 2023.
This privacy policy discloses the privacy practices for www.pawboost.com. It applies solely to information collected by PawBoost. It will notify you of the following:
- What personally identifiable information is collected, how and why it is used, and with whom it may be shared.
- How you can control the personal information we collect, including the modification and deletion of that information.
- The security procedures in place to protect your information.
- How cookies and third party technologies are used and for what purposes.
Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time and all updates will be posted on this page.
If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, you should contact us immediately via email at privacy@pawboost.com.
What Information We Collect
PawBoost collects the following personal information.
- Information you provide
- Contact information
Email address, phone
- Account information
Your zip code, first name, last name, password
- Pet information
Pet name, pet photo(s), location last seen/location found, date last seen/date found, species, sex, pet description, personal message about your lost or found pet, updates on the search for your lost pet or the owner of your found pet
- Organization information
The name, organization type, address, city, state, website, phone, fax, and logo of an organization(s) you are affiliated with
- Payment information
Credit card number, expiration date, CVV, and name on card. PawBoost does not store credit card information; this information is encrypted and held by our third party payment processor, Stripe, Inc. We may store partial information to help you identify the payment method on file, such as the last four digits of your credit card number.
- Communications data
Emails you send to PawBoost directly, or to another user via a PawBoost proxy email address
- Automatically collected information
- Location information
Depending on the PawBoost services that you use, and your app settings or device permissions, we may collect your precise or approximate location information as determined through data such as GPS, IP address and WiFi.
- Device information
Depending on the PawBoost services that you use, we may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device you use, your mobile device’s unique device ID, the IP address of your mobile device, your mobile operating system, and the type of mobile internet browsers you use.
- Usage information
We collect information about how you interact with our services. This includes information such as access dates and times, features used, and pages viewed. In some cases, we collect this information through cookies, pixel tags, and similar technologies that create and maintain unique identifiers. This is explained further in the Cookies And Third Party Technologies section of our Privacy Policy.
- Information from other sources
- User comments
We collect comments (such as from Facebook) from users regarding lost or found pets posted to PawBoost.
- Publicaly available sources
In addition to maintaining a proprietary database of lost & found pets, PawBoost serves as an aggregator of pet information across the web. Information collected from these publicly available sources includes but is not limited to: pet name, pet photo(s), location last seen/location found, date last seen/date found, species, sex, pet description, and contact information of the person who posted.
How We Use Your Information
PawBoost uses the information it collects for the following purposes.
- Providing services and features
- Creating your account
We use your email address, password, and location to create your PawBoost account. This enables you to login to post new lost or found pets, or to modify information you have already provided to PawBoost.
- Creating and distributing a PawBoost Alert for a pet you’ve lost or found
The core function of PawBoost is to raise awareness for a pet you have lost or found. When you put out a PawBoost Alert, we will share your pet’s information and certain contact information with our users in the following locations:
- PawBoost website
- PawBoost mobile application for iOS and Android
- Facebook and other social networks
- Emails to PawBoost subscribers
- On the print flyer generated for the lost or found pet
- With our alert network and other business partners, including those with access to our lost & found pet feeds
- Displaying location-specific information
We may use your location information – either submitted by you or collected automatically – to present you with location-specific information, such as nearby lost & found pets.
- Purchasing premium services
To purchase premium services, you must provide contact information (e.g. first and last name) and financial information (e.g. credit card number, expiration date). It is important to note that credit card information does not touch PawBoost servers, and is held by a third party payment processor: Stripe, Inc. This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we’ll use this information to contact you.
- Support
We use your email address and/or phone number to contact you in order to assist you when you contact our support services.
- Research and development
We may use the information we collect for testing, research, analysis, and product development. This allows us to improve our existing services, and develop new features and products.
- Communication among users
We use collected contact information to enable communications between our users. For example, a user may call or email another user (via a PawBoost email proxy or online form) to let them know they have located their lost pet, or have located the owner of their found pet.
- Communications from PawBoost
We may use the information we collect to communicate with you about products, services, promotions, news, and updates. We may also use this information for transactional communication purposes, such as when an order has been processed or is up for renewal.
- Legal proceedings and requirements
We may use the information we collect to investigate or address claims or disputes relating to your use of PawBoost’s services, or as otherwise allowed by applicable law, or as requested by regulators, government entities, and official inquiries.
Who We Share Your Information With
PawBoost may share the information we collect in the following ways.
- With other users
We may share personal information, such as contact information and information about your lost or found pet, with other PawBoost users. When you put out a PawBoost Alert, we will share the information you provided with PawBoost users on our website, our mobile applications, on Facebook and other social networks, and in emails to PawBoost subscribers. Certain personal information, such as your email address, will be hidden behind a proxy address created by PawBoost on your behalf. We will share no more information than is necessary to facilitate in the reunion of your lost or found pet.
- With our alert network and other business partners
We may share information about your lost pet that is included in PawBoost Alerts that you create with our alert network and other business partners with whom we work and to whom we provide access to our lost & found pet feeds. These alert network and other business partners may in turn distribute that information to their members, subscribers, and other third parties with whom they are associated.
- With PawBoost service providers and other partners
- Payment processors and facilitators, such as Stripe, Inc.
- Cloud storage providers, such as Amazon Web Services, and other technology providers we use to provide our services.
- For legal reasons or in the event of a dispute
- We may share your information as required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal process.
- We may share your information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect your rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.
- If PawBoost is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, you will be notified via email and/or prominent notice on our website of any change in ownership or uses of this information, as well as any choices you may have regarding this information.
- With your consent
We may share your information other than as described in this policy if we notify you and you consent to the sharing, such as in sharing Happy Tails (success stories) with our audience or partners.
How To Control Your Information
You have certain rights regarding your personal information collected by PawBoost. These rights and the processes by which you exercise them are explained below.
- View information
You have the right to receive a copy of the information that PawBoost collects about you if collected on the basis of consent or because PawBoost requires the information to provide the services that you request. To receive a copy of your information, send your request to privacy@pawboost.com.
- Modify information
You can modify information you have provided to PawBoost, such as your contact information, pet information, or location information, by logging into your PawBoost account and navigating to either your Account screen or your Pet Info screen. You can also modify information by sending your request to privacy@pawboost.com.
- Delete information
You may request the deletion of your account and/or any personal information we have about you at any time. To delete your information, send your request to privacy@pawboost.com.
- Object or file complaints
You have the right to object to or file a complaint relating to PawBoost’s handling of your personal information. If you have an objection or complaint, you should contact us at privacy@pawboost.com.
- Opt out of PawBoost communications
- Email communications
You can opt out of email communications from PawBoost at any time by logging into your PawBoost account, then navigating to the Email Notifications section in your Account screen. You can also get to this screen by clicking the Unsubscribe link in any email notification from PawBoost. Keep in mind you may still receive important transactional notices after unsubscribing, such as receipts of purchases of premium services. Unsubscribe requests may take up to five days to process.
- Push notifications
You can turn off push notifications from the PawBoost application on iOS or Android from your mobile phone settings, or by deleting our mobile application from your device.
- Turn off location services
If you no longer wish to use location services you previously enabled when using the PawBoost application for iOS or Android, you can turn off location services for our mobile application from your mobile phone settings, or by deleting our mobile application from your device.
How Your Information Is Stored And Protected
We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.
Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a closed lock icon at the bottom of your web browser, or looking for "https" at the beginning of the address of the web page.
While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers in which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
Cookies And Third Party Technologies
We use cookies and other identification technologies on our website, apps, emails, and online ads. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your browser or device by websites, apps, online media, and advertisements. PawBoost uses cookies and similar technologies for purposes such as:
- Remembering user preferences and settings
- Analyzing site traffic and trends, and generally understanding the online behaviors and interests of people who interact with our services
- Delivering and measuring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns
You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies. However, they are an important part of how our services work, so you should be aware that if you choose to refuse or remove cookies, this could affect the availability and functionality of the services.
Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject browser cookies. To do so, please follow the instructions provided by your browser, which are usually located within the “Help” or “Preferences” menu. Some third parties also provide the ability to refuse their cookies directly, such as from the Ad Preferences menu of your Facebook account.
The types and purposes of cookies used by PawBoost are explained below.
- Local storage
We use cookies to remember user preferences, such as assisting with your account login.
- Analytics, performance, and research
We use cookies to understand, improve, and research products and services, including when you access the PawBoost website and/or application from a computer or mobile device. We use cookies from the following third parties for these purposes:
- Advertising
We use cookies and pixels to deliver relevant ads, track email marketing or ad campaign performance. For example, we may use a cookies, attribution service or another similar technology to determine whether we’ve served an ad and how it performed or provide us with information about how you interact with them. We use cookies from the following third parties for these purposes: