EarthLink Privacy Policy

Effective Date: October 1, 2026

This Privacy Policy is between EarthLink, LLC, and its affiliates(“EarthLink”), and its customers and visitors (individually, “you”). EarthLink cares about your privacy and the protection of your Personal Information (defined below). It is EarthLink’s policy not to sell your Personal Information-. This Privacy Policy describes how EarthLink collects, uses, and shares information that EarthLink may collect from you when you use our Services, as defined in the EarthLink Master Service Agreement, or any software or hardware related to such Services. The EarthLink Master Service Agreement governs your use of all Services. This Privacy Policy also tells you about the rights and choices that you may have when it comes to your Personal Information. “Personal Information” means information EarthLink collects that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer, household, or device. Details about the Personal Information EarthLink collects is described in more detail below.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand EarthLink’s policies and practices regarding your Personal Information and how EarthLink will treat it. If you do not agree with EarthLink’s policies and practices, your only alternative is to not use EarthLink’s Services. By accessing or using EarthLink’s Services you agree to this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of EarthLink’s Services after EarthLink makes such changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Privacy Policy periodically for updates.

Overview

Information We Collect	EarthLink collects Personal Information from a number of sources, including directly and indirectly from you. For example, you provide us with certain Personal Information when you engage EarthLink to provide Services. EarthLink may also generate information about you such as information regarding your use of devices connected to the Services. In some cases, EarthLink may also collect Personal Information from third parties (such as from referrals and third-party service providers).
How We Use Your Information	EarthLink uses your Personal Information to provide Services to you, to provide you with advertising and offers that may be of interest to you, and for other purposes described below.
How We Share Your Information	We do not sell your Personal Information to third parties. We share your information with EarthLink’s service providers and other entities that support our Services, such as Google in order to provide you with our Services and for other reasons, including legal and security purposes, described below.
How We Protect Your Information	We maintain technical, administrative, and physical security measures designed to protect your information. Access to Personal Information is authorized only for EarthLink’s employees and service providers who have a business need for such access, in accordance with applicable laws.
Cookies	EarthLink uses cookies and similar technologies. “Cookies” are small files or identifiers that a website or app may place on, or read from, your browser or device. They can help digital services work securely, remember settings, understand how a service performs, or support relevant content or advertising.
Sensitive Personal Information	Certain information EarthLink collects – such as account log-in credentials, precise geolocation, and payment card information – is treated as particularly sensitive personal information under many states’ laws, including “Sensitive Personal Information” under California law. You have the right to limit EarthLink’s use of this information. See Section 11 and the Supplemental Notice below. The precise definition of Sensitive Personal Information varies slightly from state to state. We therefore refer to all such particularly sensitive information as “Sensitive Personal Information” in this Privacy Policy. All references to Personal Information in this Privacy Policy include Sensitive Personal Information.
Your Choices and Rights	You can manage your information, and in some circumstances, you may be able to opt-out of receiving certain marketing communications, change your communication preferences, and access and update your account information. These choices and other rights may vary depending on your state’s laws. If you are a California resident, please visit EarthLink’s Privacy Notice for California Residents for more information about your rights under the CCPA (defined below). If you are a resident of another state with a comprehensive privacy law, you may have similar rights – see Section 11 (“Residents of Other States”) below. We also honor Global Privacy Control (“GPC”) opt-out preference signals.
Links to Other Websites	Our Services may contain links to and content from other websites or services that are not owned or controlled by EarthLink, including advertisers. This Privacy Policy does not apply to non-EarthLink products, services, websites, or applications that you may access or use through EarthLink Services.
You Must be at Least 18 Years Old to Order Service	To order and receive the Service, you must be at least eighteen (18) years of age or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, whichever is older and have legal authority to enter into a binding legal agreement with EarthLink for the Services. EarthLink Services are not directed at or intended for use by children, nor does EarthLink knowingly collect information from anyone under the age of majority.
Changes to this Policy	We update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and changes will be effective when posted (as identified in the Privacy Policy).
How to Contact Us	If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how to manage your Personal Information, please contact EarthLink at [email protected] or EarthLink, LLC, Legal Department, 980 Hammond Drive NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, Georgia 30328. Privacy-specific inquiries may also be directed to EarthLink’s Privacy Officer at [email protected].

1. What does this Privacy Policy Cover?

This Privacy Policy covers the following information:

• How EarthLink collects your Personal Information;
• How EarthLink shares your Personal Information to provide EarthLink Services to you; and
• How you can review and manage certain Personal Information and information sharing.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected by EarthLink offline or through any other means not specified in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy does not apply to non-EarthLink products, services, websites, or applications that you may access or use through the Services. Separate notices govern EarthLink’s processing of job applicant and employee Personal Information; this Privacy Policy does not apply to that processing, except where expressly stated.

2. Information We Receive or Collect From You

Examples of the categories of Personal Information EarthLink collects directly from you as you visit or interact with EarthLink’s Services include, but are not limited to, the following types of information:

• Personal Details: Means information by which you may be personally identified, such as your name, postal address, email address, telephone number, and any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline. You may provide this information to EarthLink by filling in forms on EarthLink’s website or at the time you registered for EarthLink Services, for example.
• Payment and Account Information: Means transaction and activity information about your Services and/or EarthLink account; your customer account and billing records, including your credit card number; your interactions with EarthLink’s customer service and/or technical support representatives over the telephone, email, or through online chat.
• Community and Social Media Posting: In certain instances, you may have the ability to send EarthLink testimonials, reviews, and feedback and/or post comments, images, or information using any of EarthLink’s community social networking features available on or accessible through EarthLink’s social networking pages or through EarthLink’s Services (“Feedback”). You should be aware that any Feedback that you submit in the course of these community social networking activities can be read, collected, or used by EarthLink or other users and visitors to EarthLink’s websites or social networking pages. Your Feedback contributions are posted and transmitted to others at your own risk. We are not responsible for the information you choose to make public on any of EarthLink’s community social networking features.
• Sensitive Personal Information: Certain Personal Information EarthLink collects, such as account log-in credentials, precise geolocation, and payment card information, is treated as “Sensitive Personal Information” under California and other state privacy laws. Section 11 and the Supplemental Notice below describe your rights with respect to this category. Other states include similar protections for information that is considered personal and particularly sensitive. States like Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia require businesses to get clear, affirmative, and unambiguous consumer consent before they collect or process sensitive data. Other states, such as Iowa and Utah, have lighter requirements where businesses only need to provide notice and an opportunity to opt-out of processing sensitive data rather than demanding prior opt-in consent. EarthLink generally applies the most stringent state requirements to all other states.

We may also receive certain categories of Personal Information from third parties, such as third-party websites, applications, and services. The categories of Personal Information that EarthLink obtains from third parties may include your name, email address, and/or other contact information. In some cases, California requires that EarthLink use different names to describe the categories of information that EarthLink collects. For more information about these categories, please see EarthLink’s Privacy Notice for California Residents.

3. Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with EarthLink’s Services, EarthLink may use automatic data collection technologies to collect or generate certain Personal Information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

• Details about your visits to EarthLink Services, including traffic data, location data, logs, the performance metrics collected when a device measures the actual speed and quality of an Internet connection (speed test data) and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on EarthLink Services.
• Device contact information, including your device contact list if you opt-in and allow access to your contact list while using EarthLink’s application(s). We do not share or publicly disclose such device contact information with third parties.
• Information about your computer or device’s Internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

The technologies EarthLink uses for this automatic data collection may include:

Cookies (or browser cookies). EarthLink uses cookies and other anonymous identifiers like pixels and tags to collect certain non-personally identifiable information about you when you use EarthLink Services. A cookie is a small text file that websites send to your Internet-connected device to uniquely identify your browser or to store information or settings in your browser. An anonymous identifier is a random string of characters that is used for the same purposes as a cookie on platforms, where cookie technology is not available. This allows EarthLink to collect technical information about your Internet connection, such as your Internet Protocol or IP address, operating system, and browsing activity while using EarthLink Services. EarthLink uses anonymous identifiers to monitor browsing and linking activity throughout EarthLink Services. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. You may also manage your cookie setting through the following link: earthlink.net/#preference-center

Please note that if you choose not to accept cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts of EarthLink’s website. Unless you have chosen to refuse cookies by adjusting your browser’s setting or changing your cookie settings, EarthLink’s system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to EarthLink’s website(s).

Types of cookies. We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential Cookies: These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with the services and features available through EarthLink’s site. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the site to you, you cannot refuse them without impacting how the site functions.
• Performance and Functional Cookies: These cookies help improve how the site works and provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may remember your settings, preferences, or enable features like video playback.
• Analytics and Customization Cookies: These cookies allow EarthLink to count your visits to our site, understand how our site is used, and measure performance. They help us improve content and user experience. They may also be used to test new features or personalize the site for you.
• Advertising (Targeting) Cookies: These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They also perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.
• Social Media Cookies: These cookies are set by social media platforms when you share content or engage with our social features. They can track your activity across other sites to build a profile of your interests.

4. Collection of Information by Third Parties and Third-Party Use of Cookies or Other Tracking Technologies

Third party websites linked to or from EarthLink Services may have information practices different from EarthLink’s. You should consult the other websites’ privacy policies to understand such sites’ policies, procedures and your rights. The inclusion of a link to a third-party website does not imply an endorsement of the website by EarthLink or any association with the third-party website’s operators.

Similarly, some content or applications available on EarthLink Services are served by third parties, including content providers and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use EarthLink’s website. We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies (if any) or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an application or other targeted content, you should contact the provider responsible directly.

5. How We Use the Information We Receive or Collect

EarthLink uses information about you or that you provide to us, including your Personal Information, for one or more of the following business or commercial purposes:

• To fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information to EarthLink or through the use of EarthLink Services.
• To send you marketing communications about offers, promotions, upcoming events, and other products and services that EarthLink offers or that EarthLink offers in conjunction with an affiliate company as permitted by law.
• To alert you to the latest developments and features on EarthLink Services and to notify you of administrative information, such as security or support and maintenance advisories.
• To carry out EarthLink’s obligations and enforce EarthLink’s rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
• To monitor and improve your EarthLink Services, including for testing, research, analysis, and product development.
• To protect against fraudulent, abusive, unauthorized, or unlawful use of the Services.
• To engage in limited automated processing and profiling purposes such as fraud prevention, service-eligibility screening, and customer-support triage. We do not use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects concerning you without meaningful human review.
• For any other purpose with your consent.

6. How EarthLink Shares Information We Receive or Collect from Others

Third Parties:

EarthLink values your privacy and does not sell your Personal Information. EarthLink may share or disclose information that EarthLink collected about you or that you provided to us, including your Personal Information, as described in this Privacy Policy, as follows:

• With EarthLink’s contractors, service providers, and other third parties EarthLink uses to support EarthLink’s business and who perform services or functions on EarthLink’s behalf (for example, EarthLink may disclose your name, address and phone number to a commercial carrier in order to deliver a physical product that you ordered). Service providers may have information practices different from EarthLink’s. Accordingly, you should consult privacy policies governing the collection and use of your information by such service provider.
• With online advertisers or ad tech companies who may provide you with targeted advertising and marketing communications through EarthLink Services, where permitted by law (collectively, “Ad Partners”).
• With your consent.

When EarthLink uses service providers to perform business functions on EarthLink’s behalf, including third party vendors, EarthLink requires them through contracts to treat your information confidentially and to only use your information for the express purpose of providing the specific business functions for EarthLink. Other examples of such service providers include but are not limited to: (i) merchant banks for credit card authorizations, (ii) collection agencies, and (iii) customer service companies.

Legal and Security Purposes:

We may also share your information in order to (i) comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request; (ii) protect or defend the legal rights or property of EarthLink, or the legal rights of EarthLink’s business partners, employees, agents, and contractors (including enforcement of EarthLink’s agreements, other EarthLink policies, and this Privacy Policy); (iii) protect the safety and security of EarthLink’s users or members of the public including acting in urgent circumstances; (iv) protect against fraud or to conduct risk management; or (v) in the event of a corporate reorganization, restructuring, merger, divestiture, dissolution, sale of assets, bankruptcy or other similar proceeding.

Feedback You Provide on Our Social Media Pages:

EarthLink offers publicly accessible and available profiles on social media platforms that you may access and post Feedback. Such information is subject to the privacy policies of those social media companies and the methods available, if any, for changing privacy settings and removal of content. If you provide EarthLink with a testimonial, review, or any other Feedback, you authorize EarthLink to publish it on all of EarthLink Services under the name or username you provided and to aggregate it with other users’ Feedback.

7. Protection of Children and Minors

Protecting the privacy of children and minors is especially important to us. You must be 18 years of age or older to order and receive EarthLink Services. No one under the age of 16 may provide information to or on the website. If, however, you authorize a child to use EarthLink Services by providing them with a device associated with your account, any information associated with such use will be treated as your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. EarthLink does not knowingly or proactively ask for or collect information from any person under the age of 16. If you are under 16, do not use or provide any information on EarthLink’s website or through any of its features, make any purchases through EarthLink’s website, or provide any Feedback. If EarthLink learns that it may have collected or received information from a child under 16 without verification of responsible adult consent, EarthLink will delete that information. If you are a parent, guardian or other caretaker and think your child under 16 has provided EarthLink with information, please contact EarthLink at [email protected].

In addition, where EarthLink have actual knowledge that a consumer is at least 13 but under 16 years of age, EarthLink will not sell or share that consumer’s Personal Information unless EarthLink first receives affirmative authorization (“opt-in consent”) from the consumer or, if the consumer is under 13, from the consumer’s parent or guardian, as required by the CCPA (defined below).

8. How EarthLink Protects the Security of Your Information

EarthLink has implemented an information security program that contains administrative, technical, and physical controls that are designed to safeguard your information, including your Personal Information. We use industry standards to secure your information when it is being collected and transmitted over the Internet, as well as firewalls, security monitoring, encryption, and intrusion detection software. Although EarthLink cannot guarantee that EarthLink’s information security program will prevent every unauthorized attempt to access, use, or disclose your information, EarthLink maintains security and incident response practices to handle incidents involving unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of your information.

Under EarthLink’s practices and policies, access to Personal Information is authorized only for EarthLink’s employees and service providers who have a business need for such access, and records are retained in accordance with applicable laws. EarthLink’s employees and service providers are trained in the importance of protecting privacy and in the proper access to, use of, and disclosure of Personal Information. As an extra precaution, you should not share your password to your EarthLink account with anyone.

Data Retention

We retain Personal Information for as long as necessary to provide EarthLink Services, comply with EarthLink’s legal obligations (including tax, accounting, and telecommunications recordkeeping requirements), resolve disputes, enforce EarthLink’s agreements, and for other legitimate business purposes. Retention periods vary depending on the type of information and the purpose for which it was collected. For example, billing and account records are generally retained for the duration of your account relationship, plus the period required by applicable law thereafter, and customer support call or chat records are generally retained for a limited period sufficient for quality assurance and dispute resolution. When Personal Information is no longer needed for these purposes, EarthLink takes reasonable steps to securely delete, de-identify, or anonymize it.

9. How to Access and Update Your Account Information

EarthLink provides you with access to your account information, as well as the ability to update this information through your online EarthLink account or by calling EarthLink’s Customer Service. To contact Customer Service via telephone or live chat, go to earthlink.net/about-us/contact-us/ for EarthLink Services. Once EarthLink has verified your identity, EarthLink will provide you with access to and/or update your account information. If EarthLink cannot verify the identity of the person making the request or suspect fraudulent or malicious activity from your EarthLink account, EarthLink will deny the request and inform you of the reasons. We may not accommodate a request to change information if EarthLink believes the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

10. Managing Your Information Choices

Promotional, Marketing Communications From EarthLink:

You may exercise your option to opt-out of receiving email marketing communications from EarthLink by (i) clicking the links under communication preferences at the bottom of the email marketing communications or (ii) visiting your EarthLink account. If you choose to opt-out of email marketing communications, you will still receive newsletters and other non-account specific messages from EarthLink. You may opt out of receiving EarthLink’s newsletters by clicking on the link at the bottom of the newsletter or by visiting your EarthLink account.

You may also contact EarthLink’s Customer Service via telephone or live chat regarding your opt-in or opt-out choices. We generally respond to such requests within 48 hours of receiving a request, but it may take up to 30 days depending on the volume of requests EarthLink receives. Your opt-out choices will remain in effect until you change them.

We will continue to send you transaction confirmation emails and other Services-related announcements when it is necessary to do so. For instance, if any of EarthLink’s Services are temporarily suspended for maintenance, EarthLink might send you an email. Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature.

You may modify your contact preferences regarding any marketing communications sent by EarthLink using automated or manually dialed calls, text messages, and pre-recorded messages by going directly to your EarthLink account or calling EarthLink’s Customer Service. You also may text STOP in response to any text message from EarthLink to stop receiving text messages from EarthLink.

Tracking Technologies:

All browsers are different, so visit the “help” section of your browser to learn about cookie preferences and other privacy settings that may be available. For example, you can manage cookie preferences set by EarthLink by adjusting the settings in your browser not to accept cookies. If your browser is set to reject cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts of EarthLink’s website. We honor GPC signals and other legally recognized opt-out preference signals as a valid request to opt-out of the sale or sharing of Personal Information for residents of states that recognize such signals. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” you can visit allaboutdnt.com.

Targeted Advertising:

EarthLink uses and works with a variety of advertising networks and Ad Partners that customize and serve third party advertisements or other content on EarthLink Services. The servers of these advertising networks place and access cookies and other similar technologies in browsers to collect information about your visits to EarthLink Services in order to serve relevant advertisements. Information collected via the data collection technologies described in this section may be linked to other information about you and may be considered Personal Information. We do not control Ad Partners’ data collection technologies or their use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However, such Ad Partners may provide you with ways to opt-out of having your information collected or used in this way. You can learn more about opting out of receiving targeted advertisements by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s website and learning about its consumer choice tools at youradchoices.com/control. If you would like more information about online advertising in general, you can go to networkadvertising.org/faq.

11. Your Privacy Rights Under State Laws

California Residents:

If you are a California resident, California law may provide you with additional rights regarding EarthLink’s use of your Personal Information. To learn more about your California privacy rights, visit oag.ca.gov/privacy/privacy-laws.

Please also visit EarthLink’s Privacy Notice for California Residents (“Supplemental Notice”), which supplements the information contained in this Privacy Policy and applies solely to visitors, users, and others who are California residents, as defined in Section 17014 of Title 18 of the California Code of Regulations. We adopt this Supplemental Notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and any terms defined in the CCPA and this Privacy Policy have the same meaning when used in EarthLink’s Supplemental Notice.

If you are a California resident and you have any questions about EarthLink’s Privacy Policy, the Supplemental Notice, or the ways in which you may exercise your rights under the CCPA, please contact EarthLink at [email protected] or EarthLink, LLC, Legal Department, 980 Hammond Drive NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, Georgia 30328.

Maine Residents:

EarthLink does not sell its customers’ Personal Information. However, if you are a resident of Maine and an EarthLink Internet customer, EarthLink will first obtain your express and affirmative consent prior to selling your Personal Information. Additionally, in certain circumstances and subject to applicable law, you may have the right to opt-out of any use, disclosure, or access to your non-personal information by sending an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Maine Opt-Out Request,” along with your first and last names, billing address, zip code, account number(s), and whether you are a former or current EarthLink Internet customer.

Minnesota Residents:

EarthLink takes reasonable steps to protect its customers’ Personal Information and does not sell such information. However, if you are a resident of Minnesota, additional restrictions on any disclosure by an Internet service provider apply. EarthLink will only disclose your Personal Information if such disclosure is incident to the ordinary course of our business or such disclosure is to another Internet service provider for purposes of reporting or preventing violations of the published acceptable use policy or customer service agreement of the Internet service provider. Any other disclosure must be approved by you.

Nevada Residents:

EarthLink does not sell its customers’ Personal Information. However, if you are a resident of Nevada, you may apply limits to the sale of certain Personal Information to third parties for resale or licensing purposes, subject to applicable law. You are entitled to submit your preference for limits on such sales by sending an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Nevada Do Not Sell Request,” along with your first and last names, billing address, zip code, account number(s), and whether you are a former or current EarthLink customer.

Residents of Other States

A number of other states have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that may apply to EarthLink’s processing of your Personal Information, including but not limited to Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota (its general law, distinct from the Internet service provider-specific one above), Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Subject to certain exceptions, if you are a resident of one of these states, you may have the right to: (i) confirm whether EarthLink processes your Personal Information and accesses that information; (ii) correct inaccuracies in your Personal Information; (iii) delete your Personal Information; (iv) obtain a portable copy of your Personal Information; (v) opt-out of the processing of your Personal Information for purposes of targeted advertising, the sale of Personal Information, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects; and (vi) appeal EarthLink’s decision not to act on your request.

To exercise these rights, please contact EarthLink at [email protected] or by calling EarthLink’s Customer Service. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. If EarthLink denies your request, you may appeal that decision by replying to EarthLink’s denial notice or by contacting EarthLink using the information above; if your appeal is denied, some states allow you to contact your state Attorney General to submit a complaint.

Where required by the laws of these states, EarthLink also honors opt-out preference signals, such as the GPC, as a valid method of opting-out of targeted advertising and the sale of Personal Information.

12. International Visitors

Your Personal Information will be processed and maintained by EarthLink in compliance with this Privacy Policy and United States’ data protection and privacy laws, and regulations. If you create an account to use an EarthLink Service and/or are using an EarthLink website as a visitor from outside the United States, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and you consent to the transfer and processing of all your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and United States’ data protection and privacy laws. Please be aware that EarthLink stores and processes your information in the United States where the law protecting such information may be different from the laws of your country.

13. Changes to this Privacy Policy

From time to time, EarthLink may update this Privacy Policy to reflect new or different privacy practices. If EarthLink makes material changes to how EarthLink treats EarthLink’s users’ information, EarthLink will notify you. You are responsible for periodically visiting EarthLink’s website and this Privacy Policy to check any changes. Continued use of EarthLink Services following notice of any changes shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes. We maintain a record of prior versions of this Privacy Policy and will note the applicable effective date at the top of the Privacy Policy; a summary of material changes is available upon request to [email protected].

14. How to Contact Us

Please contact EarthLink if you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or its implementation, at [email protected] or EarthLink, LLC, Legal Department, 980 Hammond Drive NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, Georgia 30328.

Supplemental Notice – California Consumer Privacy Rights

This Privacy Notice for California Residents (“Supplemental Notice”) supplements information contained in the EarthLink Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by this reference, and applies solely to visitors, users, and others who are California residents, as defined in Section 17014 of Title 18 of the California Code of Regulations (referred to herein as “consumers” or “you”). We adopt this Supplemental Notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and any terms defined in the CCPA and EarthLink’s Privacy Policy and not defined herein have the same meaning when used in this Supplemental Notice.

Information EarthLink Collects

We collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer, household, or device (“Personal Information”). Note this definition of Personal Information is slightly different than the definition otherwise included in this Privacy Policy because of specific California law requirements. Therefore, the forgoing definition applies only to references to Personal Information in this Supplemental Notice.

In particular, EarthLink has collected the following categories of Personal Information from consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

Categories of Personal Information Collected by EarthLink	Collected?
Identifiers (e.g., name, mailing address, email address, phone number, credit/debit card number)	YES
California Customer Records Information (e.g., bank account or financial information) in Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)	YES
Commercial information (e.g., products or services purchased, purchase history)	YES
Internet or other electronic network activity (e.g., browsing history, device information)	YES
Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information (e.g., recording of customer service calls)	YES
Professional or employment-related information (e.g., past job history, resume)	YES
Geolocation Data	YES
Sensitive Personal Information (e.g., account log-in credentials; financial account or payment card information in combination with a required security code)	YES
Inferences drawn from other Personal Information	YES
Categories of Personal Information NOT Collected by EarthLink	Collected?
Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law (e.g., race, nationality, gender identity)	NO
Non-public education information (e.g., transcripts, grades, class lists)	NO
Biometric Information (e.g., genetic, physiological, behavioral characteristics)	NO

We obtain the categories of Personal Information listed above from the following categories of sources:

• Directly from you. For example, when you create an account with us, when you provide Feedback to us, or when you complete transactions with us.
• Indirectly from you. For example, from observing your actions when using EarthLink Services.
• Third Parties. For example, third party referral services that send EarthLink your contact information after you have expressed an interest in EarthLink Services and/or EarthLink’s service providers.

How EarthLink Shares Your Personal Information

We may disclose your Personal Information for a business purpose with certain third parties in order to provide EarthLink Services. In the preceding twelve (12) months, EarthLink may have disclosed Personal Information for a business purpose with EarthLink’s service providers, including but not limited to the following categories:

• Identifiers.
• California Customer Records Personal Information Categories.
• Commercial information.
• Internet or other similar network activity.
• Audio, electronic, visual, or similar sensory data.

We do not sell your Personal Information for a commercial purpose to third parties in exchange for money, as the term is traditionally understood. However, California law may treat certain sharing of information for advertising purposes as a “sale.” If you have seen advertisements on EarthLink Services in the past twelve (12) months, then under California law the following categories of Personal Information might have been “sold” to EarthLink’s third-party Ad Partners:

• Device information associated with a device used to interact with advertisements on EarthLink Services (such as a device identifier, cookies, beacons, advertisement identifiers and similar technology).
• Internet and other electronic network activity information associated with a device used to interact with advertisements on EarthLink Services.

Separately, under the CCPA, disclosing this information to Ad Partners for cross-context behavioral advertising is also considered a “share,” even in instances where it does not meet the technical definition of a “sale” for money.

Your CCPA Rights and Choices

The CCPA provides consumers with specific rights regarding their Personal Information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

Right to Know

You have the right to request that EarthLink discloses certain information to you about EarthLink’s collection and use of your Personal Information over the past twelve (12) months. Once EarthLink receives and confirms your verifiable consumer request, EarthLink will disclose to you:

• The categories of Personal Information EarthLink have collected about you.
• The categories of sources from which the Personal Information EarthLink collected about you is collected.
• Our business or commercial purpose for collecting that Personal Information.
• The specific pieces of Personal Information EarthLink collected about you (also referred to as a data portability request).
• If EarthLink sold or disclosed your Personal Information for a business or commercial purpose, EarthLink will disclose to you two separate lists disclosing any sales and any disclosures, identifying the categories of third parties and the Personal Information categories involved.

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for exercising your Right to Know twice within a 12-month period.

Right to Delete

You have the right to request that EarthLink delete the Personal Information that EarthLink collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once EarthLink receives and confirms your verifiable consumer request, EarthLink will delete (and direct EarthLink’s service providers to delete) your Personal Information from EarthLink’s records, unless an exception applies. Following a verified deletion request, EarthLink will retain a record of your request to ensure that EarthLink does not re-insert your information into EarthLink’s systems. This record allows EarthLink to comply with EarthLink’s legal obligation to you.

Right to Correct

You have the right to request that EarthLink correct inaccurate Personal Information that EarthLink maintains about you, taking into account the nature of the Personal Information and the purpose of processing. Once EarthLink receives and confirms your verifiable consumer request, EarthLink will use commercially reasonable efforts to correct the inaccurate Personal Information, unless it is impossible or would involve disproportionate effort.

Right to Opt-Out of Personal Information Sales and Sharing

You have the right to direct EarthLink not to sell your Personal Information at any time in accordance with law. California law also allows you to opt-out of the “sharing” of your Personal Information for cross-context behavioral advertising, even where no money changes hands.

To exercise your right to opt-out, you (or your authorized agent) may contact EarthLink at [email protected]. You may also opt-out by using “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” webform/link or by enabling a Global Privacy Control opt-out preference signal in your browser, which EarthLink will treat as a valid opt-out request. We will only use the Personal Information provided in an opt-out request to review and comply with the request. Once you make an opt-out request, EarthLink will wait at least twelve (12) months before asking you to reauthorize sales of your Personal Information.

Right to Limit the Use of Sensitive Personal Information

California law defines certain categories of Personal Information as “Sensitive Personal Information,” including account log-in credentials, precise geolocation, and financial account or payment card information in combination with any required security code or access code. You have the right to limit EarthLink’s use and disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information to what is necessary to perform the Services you request. To EarthLink’s knowledge, EarthLink currently uses only Sensitive Personal Information for purposes permitted under the CCPA without an opt-out right (such as providing the Services and maintaining account security); if this changes, EarthLink will update this Supplemental Notice and provide a mechanism for you to submit a request to limit such use.

How to Exercise Your Right to Know and Right to Delete

To exercise the Right to Know and Right to Delete as described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request by emailing EarthLink at [email protected]. Only you, or a person that you have authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your Personal Information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child.

If you are making a Right to Know or Right to Delete request as an authorized agent on behalf of a California resident, EarthLink requires that you submit a notarized permission form to [email protected]. The permission form must be signed by the individual for whom you are making the request and by you.

If you are an existing EarthLink customer, EarthLink will reasonably work to verify your identity through EarthLink’s existing authentication practices for your password-protected EarthLink account. If you do not have an EarthLink account, EarthLink will reasonably work to verify your identity, where feasible, by matching the identifying information provided in your consumer request with any Personal Information that EarthLink currently maintains.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information if EarthLink cannot verify your identity or your authority to make the request. If EarthLink cannot verify the identity of the person making the request to a reasonable degree of certainty, EarthLink will deny the request and inform you of the reasons. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use Personal Information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

If EarthLink suspects fraudulent or malicious activity, EarthLink will not comply with your Right to Know or Right to Delete requests until further verification procedures determine that your request is authentic. We will not disclose through a verifiable consumer request any particularly sensitive information such as an account password or any security questions and answers.

EarthLink’s Response Timing and Format

We will endeavor to respond to your Right to Know and Right to Delete Requests within 45 days of EarthLink’s receipt of your request. If EarthLink requires more time, EarthLink will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. If you have an EarthLink account with us, EarthLink will deliver EarthLink’s written response to your account. Any disclosures provided by EarthLink will cover only the 12-month period preceding EarthLink’s receipt of your verifiable consumer request. If EarthLink is unable to comply with your request, EarthLink will explain the basis for EarthLink’s denial.

We will not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If EarthLink determines that the request warrants a fee, EarthLink will tell you why EarthLink made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Non-Discrimination Notice

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights under law or in EarthLink’s Privacy Policy.

Changes to the Supplemental Notice

We reserve the right to amend this Supplemental Notice at any time and at EarthLink’s discretion. When EarthLink makes changes, EarthLink will post the updated Supplemental Notice on EarthLink’s website and update the effective date. Your continued use of EarthLink’s website and EarthLink Services following the posting of any changes to this Supplemental Notice constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

EarthLink’s Contact Information

Please contact EarthLink if you have any questions about EarthLink’s Privacy Policy, this Supplemental Notice, or the ways in which you may exercise your rights under the CCPA, at [email protected] or EarthLink, LLC, Legal Department, 980 Hammond Drive NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, Georgia 30328.