PRIVACY POLICY

Privacy Policy

Last Updated: April 15, 2025

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how DNSFilter, Inc. (“DNSFilter,” “us,” “we,” or “our”) may collect, use, and share your personal information in connection with our websites, www.dnsfilter.com and www.webshrinker.com, and any other websites we own and operate that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Site”) together with the marketing, sale, and provision of our products and services, our social media pages, our events, and our emails and other electronic communications (collectively, the “Service”), and the choices you have with respect to your personal information.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to (i) the website www.guardianapp.com, nor the products and services offered through such site, nor (ii) personal information of end users that our customers, as the data controllers, may collect or maintain when they use the products and services we offer. With respect to (i), please visit www.guardianapp.com to review the privacy practices specific to the guardian product. With respect to (ii), we process end user data only on their behalf as a data processor in order to provide them with our services. For more information about the privacy practices of one of our customers, please refer to their privacy policy or notice.

DNSFilter reserves the right, at any time, to modify this Privacy Policy. If we modify how we collect, use, or share personal information, we will post the updated Privacy Policy on this page. In some cases, we may notify you about an update by sending you an email, posting a notice about the update on the Service, or other means as may be required by applicable law. In all cases, your continued use of the Service following posting or other notification of changes constitutes your acknowledgement of such changes. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically to keep up to date on our most current policies and practices. 

This Privacy Policy covers the following topics:

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

COOKIES & OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGY

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION YOUR CHOICES

YOUR CHOICES

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

THIRD PARTY WEBSITES AND SERVICES

NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

NOTICE TO EUROPEAN USERS

CONTACTING US

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal Information You Provide. We collect personal information when you provide it to us, which may include the following:

• Contact Information, such as first and last name, email address, phone number, and mailing address. 

• Professional Information, such as company name, job title, company location, and other details we may collect about your business or profession.

• Account Information, such as your log-in details, information that you store in your account, information you provide during registration or agreement submission, and other details about your use of the Service. 

• Payment Information, such as bank account number, credit or debit card number, or financial account details used for payments. All payment processing services connected with your use of the Service is provided to you by third-party payment processors. 
  

• Order History, such as records of services you have purchased from us.

• Preferences, such as any preferences you set in your account and any marketing or communications preferences.

• Survey Responses, such as the information you provide in response to our surveys, questionnaires, or contests.

• Communications, such as the information associated with your requests or inquiries, including for support, assistance, or order information, and any feedback you provide when you communicate with us.

Unless we specifically request it, we ask that you not provide us with any sensitive personal information (e.g., information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, criminal background, or trade union membership) on or through the Service, or otherwise to us.

Personal Information from Third Parties. We may obtain personal information about you from third parties, such as social media platforms and other public sources, third parties that help us advertise our services and find new customers, joint marketing partners, event co-sponsors, and other third parties. 

Personal Information Collected Automatically. We, our service providers, and our business partners may automatically log information about you, your computer or mobile device, and your activity over time on our Service and other sites and online services, such as: 

• Device Data, such as your computer or mobile device operating system type and version number, manufacturer and model, browser type, screen resolution, IP address, unique identifiers, the website you visited before browsing to our website, and general location information such as city, state, or geographic area.

• Online Activity Data, such as pages or screens you viewed, how long you spent on a page or screen, navigation paths between pages or screens, information about your activity on a page or screen, access times, and duration of access. 

Like many online services, we use the following technologies to facilitate some of our automatic data collection:

• Cookies, which are text files that websites store on a visitor‘s device to uniquely identify the visitor’s browser or to store information or settings in the browser for the purpose of helping you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, enabling functionality, helping us understand user activity and patterns, and facilitating online advertising. For additional information, please see the Cookies & Other Tracking Technology section below.
  

• Web Beacons, also known as pixel tags or clear GIFs, which are typically used to demonstrate that a webpage or email was accessed or opened, or that certain content was viewed or clicked, typically to compile statistics about usage of websites and the success of marketing campaigns.

• Local Storage, which is used to save data on a visitor’s device. We may use data from local storage to, for example, turn on web navigation, store multimedia preferences, customize what we show you based on your past interactions with our Service, and remember your preferences. 

• Session-Replay Technologies, which are third-party software programs that we may use on the Site or in some locations of the Service to record a video replay of user’s interactions with the Service. The video replay may include users’ clicks, mouse movements, scrolls, mobile app touches, typing, and other activity taken during the session. We use these replays for research and development purposes, such as to help us troubleshoot problems with the Service, understand how users interact with and use the Service, and identify areas for improvement. 

Referrals. Customers and other users of the Service may have the opportunity to refer friends, colleagues, or other contacts to us and share their contact information with us. Please do not refer someone to us or share their contact information with us unless you have their permission to do so.

COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGY

This section describes how DNSFilter uses cookies and similar technologies to provide, improve, promote, and protect the Site.

Why do we use cookies? 

We use first-party and third-party cookies for several reasons, such as letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, letting us analyze how well our Site is performing, improving your experience, and helping us advertise our business. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Site to operate. Other cookies enable us and the advertising partners we work with to track and target the interests of visitors to our Site and across other sites and services. For example, we use cookies to tailor content and information that we may send or display to you and otherwise personalize your experience while interacting with our Site and to otherwise improve the functionality of the services we provide. Third parties also serve cookies through our Site for advertising, analytics, and other purposes. This is described in more detail below.  

What cookies do we use?

Necessary

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with the Site and to use some of its features, such as access to secure areas. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the Site, you cannot refuse them without impacting how our Site functions. Strictly necessary cookies also include what is required to comply with applicable laws, such as the security requirements of data protection law. You may be able to block or delete essential cookies by changing your browser settings.

Examples of third-party services we may use with necessary cookies on the Site include the following:

• DNSFilter
• HubSpot
• CloudFlare

These cookies help us analyze how the Site is being accessed and used, enable us to track performance, and secure the Site. For example, we use cookies to get insights regarding users and Site performance, such as page speed or to help us customize our Site for you in order to enhance your experience. 

Examples of services we may use that may have analytics cookies on our Site include the following:

• Google Analytics
• Microsoft Clarity
• 6Sense

Advertisement

These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. We sometimes use cookies delivered by third parties to track the performance of our advertisements. For example, these cookies remember which browsers have visited our Site. This process helps us manage and track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. 

Examples of advertising services we use which may have advertisement cookies on the Site include the following:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter / X
• Meta Platforms (Facebook)

How do you manage cookies? 

Most browsers let you remove and/or stop accepting cookies from the websites you visit. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser’s settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all functionality of the Site and it may not work properly. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your browser and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.  

Where can you get further information?

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at privacy@dnsfilter.com.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

DNSFilter uses personal information for the purposes set forth below and as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy or at the time of collection. 

To Provide the Service. We may use personal information to provide our Service and related products and services, and to operate our business. For example, we use personal information to: 

• process your transactions, including granting access to our Service and providing our services and technology; 
• establish, manage, monitor, and maintain your account;
• improve and personalize your experience on or with the Service;
• verify your identity or determine your eligibility for offers or promotions;
• communicate with you, including providing notices about your account or transaction (e.g., confirmations, invoices, technical notices, updates, and security alerts) and responding to any of your requests, feedback, or questions; 
• contact you by phone, email, SMS, or other form of communication;
• provide any contests, surveys, sweepstakes, or other promotions you participate in;
• provide maintenance and support; and
• fulfill any other purpose for which you provide personal information.

Research and Development. We may use your personal information for research and development purposes, including to study and improve the Service and our business, understand and analyze the usage trends and preferences of our users, and develop new features, functionality, products, and services. As part of these activities, we may create aggregated, de-identified, or other anonymous data from personal information we collect. We make personal information into anonymous data by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to you. We may use this anonymous data and share it with third parties for our lawful business purposes. 

Direct Marketing. We may send you DNSFilter-related or other direct marketing communications as permitted by law, including materials, updates, information, special offers, and promotional material from us and our business partners. You may opt-out of our marketing communications as described in the “YOUR CHOICES” section below. 

Interest-Based Advertising. We work with third-party advertising companies and social media companies to help us advertise our business and to display ads for our Service. These companies may use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about you (including the online activity information and device information described above in the section called “Personal Information Automatically Collected”) over time across our Service and other websites and services or your interaction with our emails, and use that information to serve ads that they think will interest you. In addition, some of these companies may use hashed customer lists that we share with them to deliver ads to you and to similar users on their platforms. You can learn more about your choices for limiting interest-based advertising in the “YOUR CHOICES” section below. 

ReCAPTCHA. We have implemented Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise on certain marketing forms utilized on our Site to prevent malicious software from engaging in abusive activities on such Site. You can learn more about data collected by Google and what this data is used for in Google's Privacy Policy. Additional information on Google services and products is available in Google's Terms of Service. 

To Comply with Laws and Regulations. We will use personal information as we believe necessary or appropriate to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas or requests from government authorities.

For Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety. We may use personal information and disclose it to law enforcement, government authorities, and private parties as we believe necessary or appropriate to: (a) maintain the safety, security, and integrity of the Service, business, databases, and other technology assets; (b) protect our, your, or others’ rights, privacy, safety or property (including by making and defending legal claims); (c) audit our internal processes for compliance with legal and contractual requirements and internal policies; (d) enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Service; and (e) prevent, identify, investigate, and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical or illegal activity, including cyberattacks and identity theft. 

With Your Consent. We will disclose your personal information in accordance with your prior direction or, in some cases, we may specifically ask you for your consent to collect, use, or share your personal information, such as when required by law. 

SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

In addition to the sharing described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy or at the point of collection, DNSFilter may share your personal information as follows: 

Related Companies. We may share your personal information with our affiliates, subsidiaries, and other related companies. 

Service Providers. We may share your personal information with third parties who perform services on our behalf that are necessary for the orderly operation of our business. For example, we work with service providers that help us perform website and application hosting, maintenance services, database management, analytics, fraud protection, marketing, customer relationship management, finances, and other purposes. 

Our Customers. If you joined or were added to the Service as an authorized user of your employer, we may share personal information about you with your employer to facilitate the services that we provide to them. 

Advertising Partners. We may also share personal information with third parties who we partner with for advertising campaigns or that collect information about your activity on the Service for the purposes described in the “Interest-Based Advertising” section above. 

Contest and Joint Marketing Partners. We may also share your personal information with other partners in order to provide you with content and other features through the Service, and such partners may send you promotional materials or otherwise contact you regarding products and services that they offer. When you choose to enter a contest or sign up for a promotion, if applicable, we may share the personal information you provide as part of the offer with the named co-sponsors or other third parties affiliated with such offer. 

Professional Advisors. We may share personal information with persons, companies, or professional firms providing DNSFilter with advice and consulting in accounting, administrative, legal, tax, financial, debt collection, and other matters.

Law Enforcement, Government Authorities, and Private Parties. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to disclose personal information to law enforcement, government authorities, and other parties if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or a government agency). 

We may also disclose personal information in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a legal obligation or for the purposes described above in the section titled “For Compliance, Fraud Prevention, and Safety.”

Business Transaction Participants. We may disclose personal information to third parties in connection with any business transaction (or potential transaction) involving a merger, acquisition, sale of shares or assets, financing, consolidation, reorganization, divestiture, or dissolution of all or a portion of our business (including in connection with a bankruptcy or similar proceedings). 

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

DNSFilter is based in the United States, and we have service providers in the United States and potentially other countries. Your personal information may be collected, used, and stored in these countries or other locations outside of your home country. Privacy laws in the locations where we handle your personal information may not be as protective as the privacy laws in your home country. By providing your personal information, where applicable law permits, you specifically and expressly consent to such transfer and processing and the collection, use, and disclosure set forth herein.

YOUR CHOICES

Review and Request Changes to Your Account Personal Information. If you have a DNSFilter account, you can log into their account to review, delete, and make changes to certain personal information stored in your account. If you need to make a change and are unable to do this through your account settings, please email us using the contact information at the end of this Privacy Policy. We rely on you to update and correct the personal information contained in your account. Note that we may keep historical information in our backup files as permitted by law. 

Marketing Emails. You can manage your communication preferences by clicking the “Manage Preferences” link at the bottom of any marketing email you receive from DNSFilter, using our Manage Preferences page to customize the types of communications you wish to receive, or clicking here to receive a unique link via email for secure access to manage your preferences. Please note that even if you opt out of marketing communications, you may still receive essential service-related communications, such as those regarding your account or critical updates.

Text Messages. We may offer communications via text messages sent by DNSFilter or any of our service providers. To stop receiving text messages from us, reply STOP to any text message you receive from us, or send your request and mobile telephone number to the email address listed at the end of this Privacy Policy. Note that we may send you a message to confirm receipt of your STOP request. 

Cookies. Most browsers let you remove and/or stop accepting cookies from the websites you visit. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser’s settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. If you do not accept cookies, however, you may not be able to use all functionality of the Service and they may not work properly. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your browser and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. 

Analytics. We use Google Analytics to help us analyze how our website properties are being accessed and used. You can learn more about Google Analytics cookies by clicking here and about how Google protects your data by clicking here. To opt-out of Google Analytics, you can download and install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available here.

Advertising Choices. You can limit the use of your information for interest-based advertising by blocking third-party cookies in your browser settings, using browser plug-ins/extensions, or using your mobile device settings to limit the use of the advertising ID associated with your mobile device. You can also opt out of interest-based ads from companies participating in the following industry opt-out programs by visiting the linked websites: the Network Advertising Initiative (http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp) and the Digital Advertising Alliance (https://optout.aboutads.info). Some of the companies we work with may offer their own opt-out mechanisms. For example, you can learn more about how Google uses cookies for advertising purposes by clicking here and opt-out of ad personalization by Google by clicking here.

Many of the opt-out preferences described in this section must be set on each device or browser for which you want them to apply. Please note that some of the advertising companies we work with may not participate in the opt-out mechanisms described above, so even after opting-out, you may still receive interest-based advertisements from other companies. If you opt-out of interest-based advertisements, you will still see advertisements online but they may be less relevant to you.

Do Not Track. Some browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals to the online services that you visit. The Service currently does not respond to “Do Not Track” or similar signals. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” please visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

The Service is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from minors under 18. 

SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is fully secure. While we use reasonable efforts to protect your personal information from the risks presented by unauthorized access or acquisition, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information. 

THIRD PARTY WEBSITES AND SERVICES

The Service may contain links to other websites and online services operated by third parties. These links are not an endorsement of, or representation that we are affiliated with, any third party. In addition, our content may be included on web pages or online services that are not associated with us. We do not control third party websites or online services, and we are not responsible for their actions. Other websites and services follow different rules regarding the collection, use, and sharing of your personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of the other websites and online services you use.

NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

This section applies only to California residents and supplements the practices described in this Privacy Policy. It describes how we collect, use, sell, share, and retain personal information of California residents, and their rights with respect to their personal information. For purposes of this section “personal information” has the meaning given in the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended (the “CCPA”), but does not include information exempted from the scope of the CCPA. In some cases, we may provide a different privacy notice to certain categories of California residents, in which case that notice will apply instead of this section.

Personal Information Collected and Purposes of Collection and Use. The list below summarizes the personal information we collect, or have collected in the 12 months preceding the last updated date of this Privacy Policy, by reference to the categories specified in the CCPA. Examples in the list refer to the types of personal information described in the section titled “COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.” 

• Identifiers, such as Contact Information. 
• Customer Records, such as Account Information, Payment Information, Preferences, and Communications.
• Commercial Information, such as Order History and Survey Responses.
• Internet or Network Activity, such as Device Data and Online Activity Data.
• Audio, Electronic, Visual, or Similar Information, such as recorded calls and chats.
• Professional Information, such as company details or job title.
• Inferences, such as inferences drawn from the personal information identified above to create a profile reflecting your preferences, characteristics, or behavior.

We may collect these categories of personal information as described in the section titled “COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.”

The purposes, including the specific business and commercial purposes, for which we collect and use these categories of personal information are described in the section titled “USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.” 

To the extent that we may collect sensitive personal information (as defined under the CCPA), we only use or disclose it for purposes permitted under the CCPA (e.g., to provide the Service, detect security incidences and prevent fraud, and to verify and maintain the quality of the Service). We do not collect or use sensitive personal information for the purpose of inferring characteristics about California residents.

Personal Information Disclosed for a Business Purpose, “Sold,” or “Shared.” Each of the categories of personal information listed above may have been disclosed for business purposes in the preceding 12 months to any of the third parties set forth in this Privacy Policy under the section titled “SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.” 

The CCPA defines a “sale” of personal information to mean when a business discloses a California resident’s personal information to a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration. Where a business discloses personal information for purposes of cross-context behavioral advertising, whether or not for monetary or other valuable consideration, it qualifies as “sharing” under the CCPA. 

In the 12 months preceding the last updated date of this Privacy Policy, we have “sold” or “shared” Internet or Network Activity to our Advertising Partners for purposes of advertising our Service (including tracking the success of our advertising campaigns) and measuring activity on the Service as further described in this Privacy Policy under the section titled “Interest-Based Advertising.” We do not knowingly “sell” or “share” the personal information of California residents under 16 years of age.

Retention of Personal Information. We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose of collection, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, to establish and defend legal claims, for fraud prevention purposes, or as long as required to meet our legal obligations. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Your California Privacy Rights. As a California resident, in addition to the choices described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, you have the rights listed below. Please note, these rights are not absolute, and, in some cases, we may not be able to respond to your request, such as when a legal exemption applies or if we are not able to verify your identity.

• Right to Know/Access. You can request the following information about how we have collected and used your personal information:
  • The specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you; 
  • The categories of personal information we have collected about you; 
  • The categories of sources from which the personal information is collected; 
  • The categories of personal information that we sold or disclosed for a business purpose about you;
  • The categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold or disclosed for a business purpose; and 
  • the business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information.  
• Right to Delete. You can request that we delete the personal information we collected from you.
• Right to Correct. You can request that we correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sales/Sharing. If we “sell” or “share” your personal information, you can opt-out. 
• Right to Nondiscrimination. You are entitled to exercise the rights described above without receiving discriminatory treatment. 

How to Exercise Your Rights. You may exercise the rights described above as follows:

• Know/Access, Delete, or Correct. You may exercise these California privacy rights by emailing us at privacy@dnsfilter.com. 
• Opt-Out of Sales/Sharing. You can request to opt-out of the “sale” or “sharing” of your personal information by emailing us at privacy@dnsfilter.com.

You can also broadcast the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal when visiting the Site. Note that due to technological limitations, if you visit our Site from a different computer or device, or clear cookies on your browser that store your preferences, you will need to return to the Site to select your preferences or rebroadcast the GPC signal.

If you direct us not to sell/share your personal information, we will consider it a request pursuant to California’s “Shine the Light” law to stop sharing your personal information covered by that law with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

We reserve the right to confirm your California residence to process your requests and will need to confirm your identity to process your requests to exercise your right to know/access, delete, and correct. This is a security measure to, for example, help ensure we do not disclose information to a person who is not entitled to receive it. The identity verification process may vary depending on how you submit your request. 

Consistent with California law, you may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. If you do so, we may require proof of your identification, the authorized agent’s proof of identification, and any other information that we may request in order to verify the request, including evidence of valid permission for the authorized agent to act on your behalf. We cannot process your request if you do not provide us with sufficient detail to allow us to understand and respond to it.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights).  However, we may charge a reasonable fee or decline to comply with your request if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests to know/access, delete, and correct within 45 days of your request. Occasionally it may take us longer than 45 days to respond, for instance if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you of the delay, and may continue to update you regarding the progress of our response.

NOTICE TO EUROPEAN USERS

The information provided in this section applies only to individuals in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom (collectively, “Europe”). Except as otherwise specified, references to “personal information” in this Privacy Policy are equivalent to “personal data” governed by European data protection legislation. 

Controller. The controller of your personal information covered by this Privacy Policy for purposes of European data protection legislation is DNSFilter, Inc., 80 M St SE, Suite 100 Washington, DC 20003, USA.

Legal Basis for Processing. The applicable legal bases of our processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy will depend on the type of personal information and the specific context in which we process it. However, the legal bases we typically rely on are set out in the table below. We rely on our legitimate interests as our legal basis only where those interests are not overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or our processing is otherwise required or permitted by law). If you have questions about the legal basis of how we process your personal information, contact us using the contact information at the bottom of this Privacy Policy.

CONTACTING US

If you have any questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy or any other privacy matters, please contact us at privacy@dnsfilter.com.