These Neustar Privacy Policies cover Neustar's Marketing, Risk, and Communications Solutions now owned by TransUnion. They do not cover Neustar Security Services, LLC (which is now an independent company) or any other products offered by another TransUnion company. You can find Neustar Security Services, LLC's privacy notice here.
These definitions were last modified on and have an effective date of December 23, 2022.
Our customers may use insights derived from their own CRM Data or licensed from reputable third parties on our platforms, including, without limitation, geolocation data collected by mobile application providers with user consent. In addition, Neustar collects and aggregates consumer survey data, household/neighborhood level demographic data, purchasing data, and third-party licensed purchasing and lifestyle data to make predictions about the preferences and interests of large groups of similar consumers. Generally, Attribute Data takes the form of a numeric or alpha-numeric code that corresponds to a market category or segment. This data may be associated with PII or Pseudonymous IDs, depending on the context described in this Privacy Statement.
Cookies are text files placed on a computer's browser that can be used to recognize you as a website user or to provide personalized content.
Cookies are used throughout the Internet advertising by a variety of different parties performing different functions. But Cookies are domain specific - for example, Neustar's Cookies are delivered from the agkn.com domain, while the Cookies Google uses for ad serving belong to the doubleclick.net domain. In order to recognize users across different platforms, Neustar matches or "syncs" its Cookies with demand side platforms, (DSPs), supply side platforms (SSPs), data management platforms (DMPs) and other third parties. The result is a table matching Pseudonymous IDs (e.g., Cookie IDs).
Coverage Partner is an online partner that gives Neustar access to a pseudonymous identifier that can be associated with a Neustar Cookie ID. Neustar uses this linkage to associate other data sources that have an existing match to the Coverage Partner's identifier with Neustar's Cookie ID.
Cross Device Linking is a technique used to predict or determine an association or relationship between two or more devices such as smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, etc.
CRM Data is the data and information associated with a company's relationship with customers throughout the customer lifecycle, and may include PII and/or Pseudonymous IDs, along with demographic, behavioral, contextual, attribute, and inferential data about their customers and prospects. CRM Data may reflect a consumer's online and/or offline interactions with a particular advertiser, publisher, or retailer. This information belongs to our customers, and its use is governed by our customer's privacy policy, not Neustar's. This information is usually pseudonymized for use in connection with Neustar's online services, meaning it cannot be used to identify you without additional data, and we use technical and organization measures to segregate the data and prevent unauthorized identification of individuals. We do not share our customer's personally identifiable CRM Data with anyone other than that customer or, at the customer's direction, another service provider.
Formerly referred to as "Non-PII," DII is any data that is linked to a particular browser or device if that data is not used, or intended to be used, to identify a particular individual. DII may include, but is not limited to, unique identifiers associated with browsers or devices, such as Cookies, Mobile Advertising IDs or MAIDs, Statistical Identifiers, and IP Addresses, where such data is not linked or intended to be linked to PII. DII includes data that is linked to a series of browsers or devices linked through Cross-Device Linking, if that data is not used, or intended to be used, to identify a particular individual. We segregate DII from PII and we use technical and organization measure to maintain that separation and prevent unauthorized identification of individuals. Neustar considers DII to be a form of Pseudonymous IDs.
We collect information about ads you see (advertiser ID, campaign ID), where and when you see the ad (date/time stamp, URL), and how you react to the ads you see (click, hover, convert, etc.). This information may be associated with Pseudonymous IDs such as DII and other pseudonymous data such as Log Data and Attribute Data.
Flash Cookies or Locally Shared Objects (Flash LSOs) are messages used in Adobe Flash that are sent from a Web server to a Web browser and is then stored as a data file in the browser. Flash cookies behave like conventional cookies by personalizing the user's experience, but they can hold much more data than conventional cookies. Flash LSOs may stay installed on a drive after ordinary cookies are deleted.
Information about the location of an individual or device derived through location-based services such as GPS level latitude-longitude coordinates or Wi-Fi triangulation.
Hashing is a way of encrypting a piece of data, like an email address, into a hexadecimal string. Hashed eMail Addresses are Pseudonymous IDs that are used for a variety of purposes in the Internet ecosystem.
This is a method for storing named key/value pairs inside a client's Web browser. More information.
Standard Internet Log Data includes the Internet page request that is automatically collected when you visit a website, the URL of the page requested, IP Address, browser type, browser language, configuration settings, operating system information, mobile service provider, search terms, date and time stamps, and Pseudonymous IDs such as Cookies and service specific information such as Event Data and Service Data.
Every device connected to the Internet is assigned a unique number known as an Internet protocol (IP) address. IP Addresses are assigned and reassigned by Internet Service Providers and companies regularly.
ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which coordinates certain technical elements of the Domain Name System.
JavaScript is a computer programming language used in web development. More information.
Log Data is information that is collected and logged in the ordinary course, and may include standard Internet Log Data, Event Data, and/or Service Data:
Neustar utilizes online registration information (e.g., name, address, MAIDs or email information) provided by our Match Partners to associate an online browser with the relevant ElementOneSM Segment Code. Once the association is made, the AdAdvisor repository discards the registration information and places a Cookie on the user's hard drive that contains the AdAdvisor/ElementOne segment code and one or more of the following demographic variables: (i) four-digit year of birth (ii) gender; (iii) zip code (iv) Hashed Email Address(es). Our customers and Match Partners may also share MAIDs and registration information, which we use to associate a mobile device with a Segment Code. Once that association is made, we segregate PII from the resulting Pseudonymous ID.
We also use information supplied by our customers to associate Mobile Advertising IDs, such as Apple IDFA and Google Ad ID with market segmentation information. Our customers and Match Partners permit us to access PII to associate an online browser or mobile device with the pre-assigned Segment Code for that household or consumer.
We require each Match Partner to represent and warrant that it has clearly and conspicuously notified its users about the use of Cookies, Web Beacons and other tracking technologies and disclosure of PII to third parties such as Neustar. We also require that each Match Partner's user agreement and privacy policy expressly permit sharing, licensing or selling of PII to third parties for various marketing purposes, including Third-Party Online Behavioral Advertising as defined by the Network Advertising Initiative Self-Regulatory Code (the "NAI Code"), and other online marketing services and programs. Finally, we require our Match Partners to clearly and conspicuously notify individuals of the right to opt-out of the third-party use of information for marketing by providing a link to the NAI opt-out.
Apple assigns an "ID for Advertising" (IDFA) to each iOS device, and Google assigns an "Advertising ID" to all Android devices. These Pseudonymous ID can be used to deliver ads and for advertising analytics in mobile applications.
Information compiled from offline sources that Neustar processes as a business on its own behalf.
Using a process called Cross Device Linking, we create and store linkages between and among household or individual level Pseudonymous IDs such as Cookies, Mobile Advertising IDs (MAIDs), Hashed eMail Addresses, and/or other persistent IDs that have been assigned to a unique but un-named user. We use these linkages to "onboard" or associate customer-provided segmentation information with third party Cookies (including Neustar Cookies) or MAIDs. We use this information on behalf of our customers to measure and analyze the effectiveness of particular advertising campaigns and understand at an aggregate level the impact these campaigns have on off and online behavior. Our customers or their agents may also use this information to target advertising based on consumer preferences and attributes.
Information generated in the online environment that Neustar processes as a business on its own behalf.
In connection with certain products and services, Neustar collects, uses, and discloses Information that can be used to identify an individual, either directly or when combined with other personal or identifying information linked or linkable to a specific individual.
In connection with certain products and services, Neustar collects, uses, and discloses information that directly identifies or is used to identify a specific individual, including name, address, telephone number, email address, and in limited and specific cases, government identifiers. We collect this when you affirmatively give it to us, from publicly available data sources such as directory listings, and from reputable providers of data compiled from on and offline source. In addition, we may use our customers CRM Data at their direction and on their behalf.
Pixel Tags are placed on a website or within the body of an email for the purpose of tracking activity on websites, or when emails are opened or accessed, and are often used in combination with Cookies.
Privacy by Design is an approach to protecting privacy developed by Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian. Using this approach, privacy is embedded into the design specifications of technologies, business practices, and physical infrastructures. That means building in privacy up front - right into the design specifications and architecture of new systems and processes.
Pseudonymous IDs, including Cookies, Hashed eMail Addresses, or other persistent alpha-numeric identifiers are created, for example, by replacing PII such as name or address with a unique numeric or alpha-numeric string. They are not "anonymous" or "de-identified" in the sense that with additional information they can be used to identify you personally. To protect user privacy, we segregate PII from Pseudonymous Identifiers, and we use technical and organization measures to maintain that separation and prevent unauthorized identification of individuals.
A referrer URL is the address of the webpage where a person clicked on a link that sent them to the next page.
A Rotator Partner is an online partner that gives Neustar access to a web browser for the purposes of calling a 3rd party tag to perform a pseudonymous ID (e.g., Cookie ID) sync. Neustar and the 3rd party are then able to exchange data based on a synced pseudonymous ID.
Our proprietary market segmentation model, ElementOneSM and AdAdvisor services places each U.S. household into one of 232 market segments (each called an "Element") based on commercially available household-level demographic information consisting of neighborhood type; age, income, and cost of living bands; home ownership/rental; and presence/absence of children. For example, one Segment Code might correspond to urban households likely to be composed of younger, middle-income renters without children. Another Segment Code might correspond to households we think are more likely to be middle-income, middle-aged homeowners and renters with children. Each "Element" includes a minimum of several hundred thousand U.S. households, and many Elements include several million households. We roll these 232 segments up into 172 segments for use by AdAdvisor in the online environment.
Additional commercially available demographic and survey data is aggregated by Element and analyzed to determine the likelihood that a typical household in a given Element will share a particular preference or characteristic. This information is presented as the likelihood that a household in a particular Element shares a particular characteristic (e.g., households in Element 100 are 80% more likely than average households to have children, drive SUVs, use a certain brand name product, or watch a particular cable network).
Our Segments consist of groups of hundreds of thousands of households with similar demographic and life-stage characteristics. In the online environment, we use registration data supplied by our online Match Partners and Coverage Partners to set Cookies. When our customers use this information in the offline environment to analyze their CRM Data, the marketing Segment Code, which is Attribute Data, may be associated with an identified individual. Our customers may also create their own marketing segments based on their consumer interactions and/or third-party data they acquire. We do not know what these codes mean.
Sensitive Personal Information includes: Social Security numbers or other government-issued identifiers; insurance plan numbers; financial account numbers (including credit card data); information that describes the precise real-time geographic-location of an individual derived through location-based services such as through GPS-enabled devices; precise information about past, present, or potential future health or medical conditions or treatments, including genetic, genomic, and family medical history including genetic and biometric data; data concerning a person's sex life or sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. In the European Economic Area and Brazil, Sensitive Personal Information also includes information regarding political philosophy/opinion and trade-union participation, religion, citizenship, racial and ethnic information. Under state privacy laws in the United States (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia) Sensitive Personal Information includes (depending on the relevant state) personal information that reveals a consumer’s: social security, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number; account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account; precise geolocation; racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership; mail, email, and text messages contents; genetic data; medical history, mental or physical health diagnosis or medical treatment information; sexual orientation; and citizenship or immigration status. It also includes (depending on the relevant state), the processing of biometric or genetic information for the purpose of uniquely identifying a consumer; personal information collected and analyzed concerning a consumer’s health; personal information collected and analyzed concerning a consumer’s sex life or sexual orientation; and personal data collected from a known child.
We use information about your computer or device to generate the statistical ID, including your operating system, user-agent string, IP Address, installed fonts, and similar information. This information makes your computer or device distinct enough for our systems to determine within a reasonable probability that they are encountering the same computer or device over time, including in environments where Neustar Cookies are not supported.
Pseudonymous IDs used by Neustar to help our customers measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns delivered in the addressable and connected TV environment.
Uniform Resource Locators or "URLs" are web addresses, a specific character string that constitutes a reference to a resource. Most web browsers display the URL of a web page above the page in an address bar. A typical URL might look like: http://www.home.neustar/privacy.
Web beacons or "clear Gifs" are small pieces of code placed on web pages that can be used for such purposes as counting visitors and delivering Cookies or to otherwise customize the user experience. They contain a unique identifier that is used to track on-site activities of unique but unidentified website users. In contrast to Cookies, which are stored on your computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on Web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.