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Privacy Policy

This privacy policy discloses:

  • When and how we collect, use and share your information
  • When and how third-party advertising networks might collect your information when you visit urbandictionary.com
  • What your privacy rights are and how you can exercise them

Your use of Urban Dictionary is also subject to our Terms of Service.

Table of contents

The information we collect, in brief

We collect (a) the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us via e-mail, (b) aggregate information concerning what pages users access or visit, (c) information you choose to send to us (such as survey information and/or site registrations) and (d) information related to your use of the site, including IP address, rough geographic location, and the date and time of your request. More detail on this collection are and how it relates to our use of your information is available in the California consumer privacy disclosures section of this policy.

How we use your information

We collect your information to improve the content of our website, to improve the quality of our service, to provide you products and services including through our store, to identify and authenticate our users, to contact you if necessary or with your permission. We may also use your anonymized information for research purposes. More details are available in the California consumer privacy disclosures section of this policy.

When we disclose your information

We do not disclose your information to other organizations for commercial purposes, except to provide products or services you've requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:

  • If it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Service, or as required by law.
  • If Urban Dictionary is acquired by or merged with another company, we will transfer your information along with the Urban Dictionary website. Should this happen, Urban Dictionary will provide advance notice of the transfer and of resulting changes to these terms on the Urban Dictionary website and, where possible, by email.
  • We may provide information to trusted businesses or persons for the sole purpose of processing personally identifying information on our behalf. When this is done, it is subject to agreements that oblige those parties to process such information only on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
  • We may provide information to a company controlled by, or under common control with, Urban Dictionary for any purpose permitted by this Privacy Policy.

More details are available in the California consumer privacy disclosures section of this policy.

The information we sell

We do not sell the personal information that we collect.

The information we share

Our ad management partners ("Ad Partners") may collect information from you directly when you visit our website, using technologies like cookies and web beacons. You may opt out of Ad Partner information collection using the process described in the your opt-out right section of this policy. You can learn more about our Ad Partner information collection practices in the cookies and web beacons section of this policy.

You have the right to opt out of this information sharing.

Your privacy rights

Urban Dictionary provides California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) consumer rights to all our users. You have the following rights concerning the information we collect:

  • The right to request disclosure of the categories of personal information and the specific pieces of personal information that we have collected about you.
  • The right to know our purpose for collecting your personal information, the categories of third parties to which we disclose personal information, and the sources from which we collect personal information.
  • The right to be informed about the information we collect about you. This information is available in this Privacy Policy and in the California Privacy Disclosures, below.
  • The right to delete any personal information we collect about you.
  • The right to correct inaccurate personal information we have collected about you.
  • The right to know how and when we sell your personal information or share it for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising.
  • The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. We provide a frictionless opt-out as described in this policy.
  • The right to limit the use and disclosure of your sensitive personal information.
  • The right to exercise the above rights without facing retaliatory discrimination.

Please understand that the above rights are subject to exceptions in some cases and that your request may require verification. We will always consider and verify your privacy request in accordance with California regulations before we take responsive action.

Requests to know and requests to delete

You may request disclosure and/or deletion of any information we have collected about you by either:

We will be in touch after receiving your request to verify your identity and to process your request. Please note that requests are considered on a case-by-case basis and are subject to legal requirements and, in some cases, verification.

Your opt-out right

We provide a “frictionless” opt out of sharing using a Global Privacy Control signal. Please visit the Global Privacy Control website to learn more about how to use the Global Privacy Control signal for a frictionless opt out.

In some cases, users may also click the "Do Not Sell My Personal Information Link" available in a banner on the bottom of our website to opt out of Ad Partner information collection.

Cookies and web beacons

A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier, which is sent to your browser from a website's computers and stored on your computer's hard drive. Cookies are required to use some Urban Dictionary services. Urban Dictionary and its Ad Partners use cookies to record current session information.

Our Ad Partners may also from time to time use web beacons (also known as Internet tags, pixel tags and clear GIFs). These web beacons are provided by our Ad Partners and allow Ad Partners to obtain information such as the IP address of the computer that downloaded the page on which the beacon appears, the URL of the page on which the beacon appears, the time the page containing the beacon was viewed, the type of browser used to view the page and the information in cookies set by the Ad Partners. Web beacons enable our Ad Partners to recognize a unique cookie on your web browser, which in turn enables us to learn which advertisements bring users to our website.

With both cookies and web beacon technology, the information that we collect and share is anonymous. It does not contain your name, address, telephone number, or email address.

You can opt-out of Google Analytics data collection with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. You can opt out of Ad Partner information collection using the process described in the your opt-out right section of this policy.

Data storage

Urban Dictionary uses third party vendors and hosting partners to provide the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology required to run Urban Dictionary. Urban Dictionary owns the code, databases, and all rights to the Urban Dictionary application.

Security

We take precautions to ensure the security of your personal information. However, we cannot guarantee that hackers or unauthorized personnel may gain access to your personal information despite our efforts. You should note that in using the Urban Dictionary service, your information will travel through third party infrastructures which are not under our control.

We cannot protect, nor does this Privacy Policy apply to, any information that you transmit to other users. You should never transmit personal or identifying information to other users.

California consumer privacy disclosures

The disclosures below reflect how we collect personal information, as defined in the CCPA, and how we have collected personal information over the last 12 months. You have privacy rights regarding the data we collect, detailed here, and can opt out of the sale and/or sharing of your personal information.

Information We Do Not Collect

We do not collect personal information that belongs to any of the following categories:

  • sensitive personal information;
  • protected classification characteristics;
  • biometric information;
  • audio/electronic/visual/thermal/olfactory/ and similar information;
  • professional or employment-related information;
  • education information; or
  • inference-based consumer profiling

The Information We Collect from All Users

Below we provide details about the categories of personal information we have collected about all visitors to our site in the last year, and the categories of personal information we have disclosed about those users for a business purpose in the last year. We collect additional information from users with accounts, about users who make purchases from our store, and other individuals, as detailed in the following sections.

Categories: identifiers; geolocation data

We collect: IP address

Purpose: to analyze trends; to help improve and secure our website; for sharing with third-party advertisers

How long we keep the information: for a limited time as determined by our security and compliance requirements

How we disclose the information: to our service providers; to third-party advertisers

Service Providers that process the information: hosting, security, cloud storage and computing, and analytics service providers

How shared or sold: shared with third-party advertisers

Source(s): automatic collection

Category: network activity

We collect: internet service providers' names; web browser types; mobile device types; computer operating system information; data about browsing activity when using our website; search data on our website

Purpose: to analyze trends; to help improve and secure our website; for sharing with third-party advertisers

How long we keep the information: for a limited time as determined by our security and compliance requirements

How we disclose the information: to our service providers; to third-party advertisers

Service Providers that process the information: hosting, security, cloud storage and computing, and analytics service providers

How shared or sold: shared with third-party advertisers

Source(s): automatic collection

The Information We Collect from Users with Accounts

Below we provide details about the categories of personal information we have collected about users with user accounts on our website in the last year, and the categories of personal information we have disclosed about those users for a business purpose in the last year. We collect additional information about all users of our website, users who make purchases in our store, and other individuals, as detailed elsewhere in this policy.

Category: identifiers

We collect: any pseudonym or handle used on our website; email address

Purpose: to allow you to submit definitions to the Urban Dictionary website and to use our services; to communicate with you about our website and services

How long we keep the information: until you delete your account and/or opt out of communications about our services, or as long as is necessary for our security and compliance purposes, whichever is longer

How we disclose the information: to our service providers

Service Providers that process the information: email, hosting, security, cloud storage and computing, and analytics service providers

How shared or sold: n/a

Source(s): you

Category: Definitions

We collect: definitions that are submitted, but not published, on Urban Dictionary

Purpose: to provide our services

How long we keep the information: as long as is necessary for our security and compliance purposes

How we disclose the information:: to our service providers

Service Providers that process the information: email, hosting, security, cloud storage and computing, and analytics service providers

How shared or sold: n/a

Source(s): you

The Information We Collect from Users who Purchase from our Store

Below we provide details about the categories of personal information we have collected about users who have made a purchase from our store in the last year, and the categories of personal information we have disclosed about those users for a business purpose in the last year. We collect additional information about all users of our website, users with accounts, and other individuals, as detailed elsewhere in this policy.

Category: identifiers

We collect: name, email address, address, phone number, payment information

Purpose: to process transactions with our store

How long we keep the information: as long as is necessary to process your transaction and provide customer service for your transaction, or for our security and compliance purposes, whichever is longer

How we disclose the information: to our service providers

Service Providers that process the information: payment processing and point-of-sale system service providers

How shared or sold: n/a

Source(s): you

Category: commercial information

We collect: purchase history, payment information

Purpose: to process transactions with our store; to improve our store and our products

How long we keep the information: we keep purchase history indefinitely, otherwise, we keep information for as long as is necessary for our security and compliance purposes

How we disclose the information: to our service providers

Service Providers that process the information: payment processing and point-of-sale system service providers

How shared or sold: n/a

Source(s): you

Other Information We Collect from Individuals Who Communicate with Us

Below we provide details about the categories of personal information we have collected about individuals who have communicated with us in the last year, and the categories of personal information we have disclosed about those individuals for a business purpose in the last year. We collect additional information in other circumstances, as detailed above.

Category: identifiers

We collect: email addresses, names

Purpose: for communicating with you

How long we keep the information: for as long as your communications remain relevant or actionable, or as long as is otherwise necessary for security and compliance purposes

How we disclose the information: to our service providers

Service Providers that process the information: email and hosting service providers

How shared or sold: n/a

Source(s): you

Children

The Urban Dictionary service is not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 16.

Changes

Urban Dictionary may periodically update this policy. We may notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by placing a prominent notice on our site.

Questions

Any questions about this Privacy Policy should be addressed to this address: legal@urbandictionary.com

Or by mail at:

Urban Dictionary LLC,
Attn: Privacy Policy Inquiries,
PO Box 7775,
ECM #82617,
San Francisco, CA 94120

Updated: July 1, 2023