Last Updated: January 28, 2013
Foursquare Labs, Inc. ("Foursquare") knows that you take your privacy seriously. We do, too. We are committed to giving you transparency of our privacy practices and control over your data in connection with Foursquare's Service (as defined in Foursquare's Terms of Service). To that end, in addition to this Privacy Policy, we have developed the following other documents that complement and are part of this policy, all of which describe the data we collect, how we use it, with whom we share it, and your choices regarding your data:
This Privacy Policy covers Foursquare's treatment of personally identifiable information ("Personal Information") and other data that Foursquare gathers when you are accessing Foursquare's Service. The Service is not available to individuals who are younger than 13 years old.
Personal Information about our users is an integral part of our business. We neither rent nor sell your Personal Information to anyone. Foursquare may share your Personal Information only as described in this Privacy Policy and related documents. The default user settings for all data about you that is visible to others is summarized in our Privacy FAQs, together with information on how to change the default user settings, where applicable.
In addition, use of third party apps developed using our API are subject to the terms of use and privacy policies of such third party developers. Certain Personal Information may be made available to third party developers if you or your "friends" use these third party apps. You should review the policies of third party apps and websites to ensure that you are comfortable with the ways in which they use and disclose the information you share with them. We do not guarantee that they will follow our rules or our Privacy Policy. Note that your friends will also be able to see which third party apps that you use.
The Foursquare service includes several features that may allow you to share your information with others. For each of these and our other features, the information available to friends and others, our default user settings, and how to alter the default settings, is available in the Privacy FAQs. Please review them carefully. Please remember that if you choose to provide personal information using certain features of the Service, that information may be available to the wider Foursquare community, or may be published on the Foursquare website, which is subject to indexing by third party search engines.
If you do not want to receive commercial email or other mail from us, please indicate your preference during the registration process or by making a modification on your account settings page or through the 'settings' tab on our website once you're logged into the service. Please note that if you do not want to receive legal notices from us, such as notices regarding this Privacy Policy, those legal notices will still govern your use of the Foursquare Service, and you are responsible for reviewing such legal notices for changes. We may receive a confirmation when you open an email from Foursquare if your computer supports this type of program. Foursquare uses this confirmation to help us make emails more interesting and helpful and improve our service.
Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored on your computer, mobile phone or other device. Pixels are small blocks of code on webpages that do things like allow another server to measure viewing of a webpage and often are used in connection with cookies.
We use technologies like cookies, pixels, and local storage (like on your browser or device, which is similar to a cookie but holds more information) to provide you with and better understand a range of products and services. By continuing to use our Service through your computer or mobile device, you consent to our use of cookies, pixels and local storage.
We use these technologies to do things like:
For example, we may ask advertisers or other partners to serve ads or services to computers, mobile phones or other devices, which may use a cookie, pixel or other similar technology placed by Foursquare or the third party (although we would not share any other information that identifies you with an advertiser). This Privacy Policy covers the use of cookies by Foursquare and its service providers and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers. For information about how to opt out of receiving behavioral advertisements from our advertising partners, click here.
We sometimes use service providers to help us provide certain products and services and to provide us information about use of the Service to improve the Service and make it appealing to as many users as possible. For example, Foursquare uses third party analytics providers, like Google Analytics, to better understand who is using the service and how people are using it. As part of providing these services, these service providers may collect and store anonymous information such as time of visit, pages visited, time spent on each page of the website, IP address, and type of operating system used.
Most web browsers have an option for turning off the cookie feature, which will prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, as well as (depending on the sophistication of your browser software) allowing you to decide on acceptance of each new cookie in a variety of ways. For more information about cookies and how to refuse them, click here. Also, Google has developed a web browser plugin to allow you to opt-out of Google Analytics' tracking software.
Your Foursquare account Personal Information is protected by a password for your privacy and security. You need to prevent unauthorized access to your account and Personal Information by selecting and protecting your password appropriately, and limiting access to your computer and browser by signing off after you have finished accessing your account.
Foursquare endeavors to safeguard user information to ensure that user account information is kept private. However, Foursquare cannot guarantee the security of user account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of user information at any time.
The Service may contain links to other sites. Foursquare is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When linking to another site, you should read the privacy policy stated on that site. This Privacy Policy only governs information collected on the Service.
If you are located outside of the United States, please note that this site is hosted on our computer servers in the United States. Therefore, your information may be processed and stored in the United States. As a result, United States federal and state governments, courts, or law enforcement or regulatory agencies may be able to obtain disclosure of your information through laws applicable in the United States. Your use of this site or the Service or your submission of any Personal Information to us will constitute your consent to the transfer of your Personal Information outside of your home country, including the United States, which may provide for different data protection rules than in your country.
Foursquare allows you to access the following information about you for the purpose of viewing, and in certain situations, updating that information and ensuring that it is accurate and complete. You can access this information on the Foursquare website by visiting the user settings page (except usage information, which can be accessed in the "History" tab). This list will change as our Service changes.
If you have questions about the Personal Information we have collected from you, you can email privacy@foursquare.com.
Should you ever decide to delete your Foursquare account, you may do so by clicking on the "delete account" link on your account settings page. If you terminate your account, your profile, including your check-in history, badges you received, your User Submissions (as defined in Foursquare's Terms of Service) and any promotional offers you received, will be removed from the site and deleted from Foursquare's servers. Because of the way we maintain Foursquare, such deletion may not be immediate, and residual copies of your profile information or posts may remain on backup media for up to ninety (90) days.
Even after you remove information from your account or profile, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere, to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users. Removed and deleted information may remain on backup media for up to ninety (90) days prior to being deleted from our servers.
Foursquare may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make material changes in the way we use Personal Information, we will notify you by posting an announcement on our Service or sending you an email. Users are bound by any changes to the Privacy Policy when they use the Service after such changes have been first posted.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding privacy using the Service, please send a detailed message to: privacy@foursquare.com. We will make every effort to resolve your concerns.