General Practice
IdealShopping does not collect personally identifiable data such as your name, email, address or phone number from your visit to its servers and domains, including but not limited to www.IdealShopping.net, unless you voluntarily supply this through e.g. the “Contact Us” form or any other publicly available contact channel. If doing so, you agree that your contact details are correct and rightfully yours. They will be used solely by IdealShopping to respond to your query. With online privacy as its primary concern, IdealShopping continues to support initiatives for self-regulation and laws throughout its markets, such as the regulations of the World Wide Web (W3) group, Privacy Preferences Projects (P3P), „Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Good Practice Principles for Online Behavioural Advertising „OBA“ (including Mobile) or the European Union e-Privacy Directive.
Advertising, Content Serving and Web Analytics Technology
IdealShopping’s technology is used by its customers—advertising agencies, advertisers and publishers—to create and deliver rich and diverse online marketing campaigns using modern technology and innovative tools. IdealShopping supports strict online privacy and security standards and has implemented several techniques to monitor advertising material for potentially unsafe content and unlawful privacy breaches. IdealShopping continuously educates advertisers, agencies and partners to ensure that these parties are aware of and vigilant in preventing any security or privacy breaches that could affect you, media sites or other parties. IdealShopping’s technology allows advertisers to collect and store data about Internet users and use them for analysis and online behavioral advertisements. As a result, such advertisements offer an enriched online experience and deliver advertisement content that is likely to be more interesting and relevant to Internet users.
Data Collection by IdealShopping
When you visit a website or mobile application that shares non-personal information about your activity with IdealShopping, we will use that information to help our clients to deliver more relevant advertising to you at the websites and mobile applications you visit, and for other purposes including research and analysis. To decide which ads to display, such as showing similar products to those a visitor has looked at before, IdealShopping uses a cookie mechanism for this purpose, but only on an anonymous basis. A cookie is a small text file that can be stored on a computer or mobile device when, with a browser, a user views advertisements or websites of one of IdealShopping’s clients. The cookie does not collect names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, or anything similar that identifies an individual (according to EU laws, personal data is any data that „directly and indirectly“ identifies a person). Instead the cookie contains: a random identification number, opt-out or opt-in choice options, or information about campaign/advertisement activity on an advertiser’s site. Using the cookies’ random identification numbers, IdealShopping collects and stores in the cookie-based profiles anonymous information such as: device type, operating system, browser version, geographic location, URLs on which IdealShopping displays advertisements, or facts about interactions with advertisements (such as number of clicks or views). During web requests to IdealShopping web-servers, our system is exposed to the IP addresses and/or Mobile Device Identifiers of user devices. IdealShopping is in full compliance with local data privacy laws and is anonymising the data according to local regulations.
Usage of Collected Data for Advertisements
Collected data can be used in different ways for online behavioural advertisements. They can be used for the following tasks: displaying ads in a sequence, displaying particular products in response to interest, displaying ads based on statistical probabilities, or deciding if an ad should be shown based on responses to the above techniques.
Display Ads in a Sequence
First, ads can be shown in a sequence by using a cookie with a random identification number. By remembering which ads have been shown to each number, IdealShopping offers advertisers the possibility to only show the same ad a specific number of times, before showing other or no ads.
Display Particular Products in Response to Interest
Based on the random identification number in the cookie, IdealShopping for a certain period stores the information that interest was shown in a particular product or advertiser in terms of, for example, a click, visit, mouse-over, search or similar interaction tracked by the advertiser. Based on this information, the advertiser can create ads that display the same or similar products of possible interest. Therefore, an ad on the same browser with the same random identification number can be used to display more products that are relevant. This technology is sometimes used on the advertiser’s website to recommend other products.
Display Ads Based on Statistical Probabilities
IdealShopping uses data based on thousands of users that respond to ads and products to show the viewer particular products or ads. This means that actions such as clicking on an ad or visiting an advertiser’s website are anonymously aggregated and used to select the ads to show you and other users. Therefore, if cookies with similar characteristics to that of a given viewer indicate interest in an advertisement, then it is very likely that this advertisement will appear. For example, if visitors browsing on an iPad on a Formula 1 site show strong interest in an advertisement for a new iPad subscription to Motor Magazine, then other users on iPads visiting the same Formula 1 site are very likely to be shown that particular advertisement.
Data Collection on Behalf of Third Parties
IdealShopping does not allow collection or storage of any type of sensitive personal data including creation or sharing of audience segments that are considered sensitive as classified by the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) Code of Conduct. Data that is not sensitive but can be used to identify an individual, such as addresses or telephone numbers, is also not allowed to be collected or stored unless provided voluntarily and explicitly by an individual Internet user. Any such information is only available for use by the particular advertiser to whom the individual has supplied his or her data. Advertisers are limited by contract to use this data solely for the purposes, identified in the advertisement, of providing Internet users with requested products, services or information as established in that advertiser’s privacy policy. Although it is perhaps permitted, IdealShopping does not encourage customers to use its technology for collection or storage of personal identification data. In all such cases, IdealShopping provides only secure data storage and access to the data control services with no other use of those data. IdealShopping does not assume responsibility for the advertisers’ use of these voluntarily supplied data. IdealShopping does not distribute this information to any party other than those indicated in the advertising agreement.
Data Sharing with Third Parties
IdealShopping may share anonymous data collected, or received by partners, in various ways. Primarily this happens automatically when data is passed to advertising exchanges and similar advertising platforms for buying and optimizing ads. For instance, IdealShopping may synchronize anonymous identifiers with other ad platforms, customers or websites and services, so that the anonymous data we have collected can be used on third party websites and systems to show more relevant ads and match consumers to their likely interests.
The anonymous data IdealShopping collects or receives may also be processed on our behalf by third-party service providers that assist us in running our business. Such can be providers of data storage, analytical insights or processing facilities.
For European Union Residents:
For the avoidance of doubt, if IdealShopping should ever transfer data concerning residents of the European Union (EU) to unrelated third parties residing outside the EU it will happen in accordance with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield requirements. In compliance with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield requirements, IdealShopping commits to resolve inquiries about data practices and our collection or use of your personal information. European Union residents with inquiries or complaints regarding this privacy policy or their data should first contact IdealShopping via email at: support@IdealShopping.net
Data received from Third Parties
We receive information about users from third parties to enable targeted advertising on the website(s) and application(s) that we support. The collection and use of that data is governed by the privacy policy and legal terms of the data collector and the website using the data; it is not governed by IdealShopping.
Links to Other Sites
Ads served by IdealShopping usually link to other web sites, which may have privacy assurance practices that differ from ours. IdealShopping does not control and cannot be held responsible for the content of these web sites. To make sure your privacy is protected, please consult the respective privacy policy of the web site you are visiting.
Data Security and Protection
IdealShopping implements reasonable security measures to protect all data collected and used by IdealShopping technology. At every step, IdealShopping adapts all relevant security and safety practices, and employs modern security hardware and software provided by recognized world-leading manufacturers. Physical environment security is also ensured; thus, IdealShopping solutions are hosted and data are stored only in Tier 3 or Tier 4 data centres, classified according to official data centre classification.
IdealShopping conducts annual audits and has received a ISO 27001 certification which includes all data centers.
IdealShopping Allows Internet Users to Opt out of:
- Cookie-based targeted advertisements using IdealShopping technology for online behavioural advertisements (OBAs)
- Tracking of visits across domains of different media or advertisers’ sites through IdealShopping technology
- Any type of cookie-based tracking by third-party technology through IdealShopping
- Mobile device-based targeted by changing settings/resetting advertising identifiers on Android and Apple IOS
The opt-out process erases all previously collected data and places an alternative IdealShopping cookie into the Internet user’s browser with special indication of an “opt-out” choice and with no other data.
The cookie applies to the specific computer or mobile device and browser only. If an Internet user wishes to opt out on other browsers, computers or mobile devices, he or she must repeat the process. Please also note that if all cookies are erased from the computer or mobile device, the opt-out cookie is also erased and the process must be repeated.
When a user opts out, IdealShopping will no longer:
- Identify the user by the unique identifier normally stored in the IdealShopping ad-serving cookie. Users therefore in many cases receive the same ad repeatedly because rotations of ads are based on the unique user identifier
- Display personalized ads based on user interests
- Collect any data about the user’s interactions with online advertisement and online experience on the web sites
- Facilitate similar actions or collection of information for such purposes by other targeting systems used together with IdealShopping
Opting-Out from advertising and tracking in Apps
Opt-out of ad tracking and targeting on many mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads or Android devices, you should preferably consult your device settings and instructions provided by the device manufacturer. Below is exemplary information solely for informational purposes for which we disclaim any warranty or representation that the opt-out methods will work or that they are most current.
Apple IOS Example
Opt-out of ads targeted based on location
Open “Settings”, tapping “Privacy,” tapping “Location Services”, tapping “System Services”, and sliding the Location-Based iAds switch to “off”.
Opt-out of targeted advertising
Open “Settings”, tap on “Privacy”, then “Advertising”, and set Limit Ad Tracking to “on”.
To reset your Advertising Identifier on iOS, open “Settings”, tap “Privacy”, tap “Advertising”, and tap “Reset Advertising Identifier”.
Android Example
Open the Google Settings app, select Ads then “Reset advertising ID” and choose “Opt out of interest-based ads”.
Please note that after using the opt-out via any of the methods mentioned here, when if using a different device or a different browser, or if deleting your browser cookies, you probably need to repeat the opt-out steps for that particular device or browser. Also if blocking cookies on your browser or if for other reasons third-party cookies are blocked by default, the opt-out tools above may not function. Unfortunately cookie-based opt-out is in many cases the only technical way IdealShopping is able to recognize and re-identify that you have decided to opt out.
Cookie Policy
General Information
Websites use smart and useful techniques to enhance user-friendliness and to make the site as interesting as possible for each visitor. One of the best known techniques involves cookies. Cookies can be used by website owners or third parties – like advertisers – who communicate through the website you visit.
Using cookies is safe. It is impossible to retrace personal information such as phone numbers or e-mail addresses by using cookies. They are, thus, unsuitable for direct marketing techniques like telemarketing and spam.
We feel it is essential for you to be informed about the cookies that our website uses and for what purpose they are used. The purpose is threefold: we want to guarantee your privacy, the user friendliness, and the financing of our website as best as we can. The following explanation tells you more about the cookies used on and through our website and for what purposes.
This cookie statement applies to IdealShopping and IdealShopping.net and has been drafted in collaboration with members of the industry and OPTA. As a result, the explanation about cookies on the industry members’ websites is essentially similar. Nevertheless, since the texts have been modified to the actual usage of cookies, not all websites will be able to depict the exact same text.
Cookies That Ensure the Website Can Function Properly
Our website uses cookies for:
- Reading your browser settings so that your screen will reproduce our website in the best possible way
- Identifying your browser when you are logged in, so that you will not have to log into our website anew all the time
- Detecting abuse of our website and services, e.g., by registering a number of successive, failed login attempts
- Evenly spreading the load on the website, so that the website remains accessible at all times
- Offering the option to save login data so that you will not have to enter them anew all the time
- Providing the possibility to react to our website
Cookies Through Which We Can Measure the Website’s Use
We use cookies to continuously try to measure how many people visit our website and what parts of the website they visit most. This tells us what components of the website draw our visitors’ interest most.
The information thus gathered is used for statistics. These statistics provide us with insight into how frequently our webpage is visited, where exactly visitors spend most of their time, etc. This enables us to draft the website’s structure, navigation and the contents as user friendly as possible for you. We will never trace any statistics to individuals.
We use cookies for:
- Recording the number of visitors of our web pages
- Setting the order in which a visitor visits the various pages of our website
- Assessing which parts of our site need adaptation
- Optimising the website
Cookies to Share the Contents of our Website Through Social Media
By using buttons, you can share the articles and videos you watch on our website through social media. These buttons are controlled by social media cookies that are installed by the social media parties, so they are able to recognise you when you would like to share articles or videos.
These cookies enable:
- Logged-in users of selected social media to instantly share content that is available on our website
With regard to the cookies that the social media parties install and any data they thereby collect, please refer to the statements that these parties have published on their own websites. Beware that these statements may regularly change. IdealShopping has no influence in this respect.
- Google+
- YouTube
- Vimeo
- Soundcloud
Other/Unforeseen Cookies
Considering the way the Internet and websites work, we do not always have insight into the cookies that are being placed by third parties through our website. This particularly applies to cases where our webpage contains so-called embedded elements: texts, documents, pictures or short films that are stored at another party, but are shown on, in, or through our website.
Therefore, should you come across any such cookies on this website that we have not listed above, please let us know. Or directly contact the related third party and inquire about what cookies they place, their reason for doing so, the cookie’s life span, and how they have guaranteed your privacy.
Final Remarks
We might have to adapt these statements from time to time, which may be due to changes in our website or regulations on cookies. We are allowed to change the contents of the statements and the cookies listed at all times and without prior warning. You can consult this webpage for the latest version.
Should you still have questions and/or remarks, please contact support@IdealShopping.net
October 2023
Changes to this Privacy Policy
IdealShopping reserves the right to modify this privacy policy partially or fully at any time without notice. IdealShopping ensures that privacy practices described in this privacy policy are up to date and reflect current ad-serving and data collection mechanisms employed by the IdealShopping platform.
Further Support
For any questions, comments or complaints regarding this privacy policy or other privacy matters, please contact IdealShopping Support.