Audible.com Privacy Notice

Last updated: March 19, 2014.

To see what changed click here.

Audible.com knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy. By visiting Audible.com, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Notice.

What Personal Information About Customers Does Audible.com Gather?

The information we learn from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your shopping experience at Audible.com. Here are the types of information we gather

1. Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our Web site or give us in any other way. Click here to see examples of what we collect. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing future shopping for you, improving our store, and communicating with you.
2. Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many Web sites, we use "cookies," and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses Audible.com or advertisements and other content served by or on behalf of Audible.com on other Web sites. Click here to see examples of the information we receive.
3. E-mail Communications: To help us make e-mails more useful and interesting, we often receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from Audible.com if your computer supports such capabilities. We also compare our customer list to lists received from other companies, in an effort to avoid sending unnecessary messages to our customers. If you do not want to receive e-mail or other mail from us, please adjust your Communication Preferences.
4. Information from Other Sources: We might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. Click here to see examples of the information we receive.

What About Cookies?

1. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and to store items in your Shopping Cart between visits.
2. The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the Web site of its manufacturer. However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of Audible.com's essential features, we recommend that you leave them turned on.

Does Audible.com Share the Information It Receives?

Information about our customers is an important part of our business, and we are not in the business of selling it to others. We share customer information only as described below and with our parent corporation Amazon.com, Inc. and the subsidiaries it controls.

1. Third-Party Service Providers: We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, providing search results and links (including paid listings and links), processing credit card payments, fulfilling orders, and providing customer service. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
2. Business Transfers: As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy stores, subsidiaries, or business units. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Notice (unless, of course, the customer consents otherwise). Also, in the event that Audible, Inc., or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information will of course be one of the transferred assets.
3. Protection of Audible.com and Others: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of Audible.com, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction. Obviously, however, this does not include selling, renting, sharing, or otherwise disclosing personally identifiable information from customers for commercial purposes in violation of the commitments set forth in this Privacy Notice.
4. With Your Consent: Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when information about you might go to third parties, and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.

How Secure Is Information About Me?

1. We work to protect the security of your credit card information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input.
2. We reveal only the last four digits of your credit card numbers when confirming an order. Of course, we transmit the entire credit card number to the appropriate credit card company during order processing.
3. It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when finished using a shared computer.

What About Third-Party Advertisers and Links to Other Websites?

Our site may include third-party advertising and links to other Web sites. We will not provide any personally identifiable customer information to these advertisers or third-party Web sites.

These third-party Web sites and advertisers, or Internet advertising companies working on their behalf, may use technology to send (or "serve") the advertisements that appear on our Web site directly to your browser. They may automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (also known as action tags or single-pixel gifs), and other technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. We do not have access to or control over cookies or other features that they may use, and the information practices of these advertisers and third-party Web sites are not covered by this Privacy Notice. Please contact them directly for more information about their privacy practices. In addition, the Network Advertising Initiative offers useful information about Internet advertising companies (also called "ad networks" or "network advertisers"), including information about how to opt-out of their information collection.

Audible.com may also display personalized third-party advertising based on personal information about customers, such as purchases on Audible.com. Click here for more information about the personal information that we gather. Although Audible.com will not provide any personal information to advertisers, advertisers (including ad-serving companies) may assume that users who interact with or click on a personalized advertisement meet their criteria to personalize the ad (for example, users in the northeastern United States who bought or browsed for audio books about vampires).

Which Information Can I Access?

Audible.com gives you access to a broad range of information about your account and your interactions with Audible.com for the limited purpose of viewing and, in certain cases, updating that information. Click here to see some examples, the list of which will change as our Web site evolves.

What Choices Do I Have?

1. As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to make a purchase or to take advantage of such Audible.com features as special sales and promotions, Customer Reviews or Recommendations.
2. You can add or update certain information on pages such as those referenced in the "Which Information Can I Access?" section. When you update information, we usually keep a copy of the prior version for our records.
3. If you do not want to receive e-mail or other mail from us, please adjust your Communication Preferences.
4. The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the Web site of its manufacturer. However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of Audible.com's essential features, we recommend that you leave them turned on.

Are Children Allowed to Use Audible.com?

Audible.com does not sell products to children. We sell children's products for purchase by adults. If you are under 18, you may use Audible.com only with the involvement of a parent or guardian.

Does Audible.com Participate in the Safe Harbor Program?

As a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., Audible.com is a participant in the Safe Harbor program developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and (1) the European Union and (2) Switzerland, respectively. Amazon has certified that we adhere to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles agreed upon by the U.S. and (1) the European Union and (2) Switzerland, respectively. For more information about the Safe Harbor and to view our certification, visit the U.S. Department of Commerce's Safe Harbor Web site.

In compliance with the US-EU and US-Swiss Safe Harbor Principles, we endeavor to resolve all complaints about privacy and the collection or use of customer information. If you have questions about our participation in the Safe Harbor program or have a complaint, please send an e-mail to safeharbor@amazon.com.

Under the Safe Harbor program, any unresolved privacy complaints can be referred to an independent dispute resolution mechanism. We use the BBB EU Safe Harbor Program, which is operated by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. If you feel that we have not satisfactorily addressed your complaint, you can visit the BBB EU Safe Harbor Program web site at www.bbb.org/us/safe-harbor-complaints for more information on how to file a complaint.

Conditions of Use, Notices, and Revisions

If you choose to visit Audible.com, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Notice and our Conditions of Use, including limitations on damages, resolution of disputes, and choice of law. If you have any concern about privacy at Audible.com, please contact us with a thorough description, and we will try to resolve it. Our business changes constantly, and our Privacy Notice and our Conditions of Use will change also. We may e-mail periodic reminders of our notices and conditions, unless you have instructed us not to, but you should check our Web site frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Notice applies to all information that we have about you and your account on and after February 10, 2010 or prior to that date if you agree to the Privacy Notice upon transitioning your sign-in credentials to Amazon or in any other way. We stand behind the promises we make, however, and will never materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of customer information collected in the past without the consent of affected customers.

Examples of Information Collected

Information You Give Us

You provide such information when you search, buy, participate in a contest or questionnaire, or communicate with customer service. For example, you provide information when you search for a product; place an order through Audible.com; provide information in Your Account; communicate with us by phone, e-mail, or otherwise; complete a questionnaire or a contest entry form; compile Wish Lists; provide and rate Reviews; and share products with Friends. As a result of those actions, you might supply us with such information as your name, address, and phone numbers; credit card information; people to whom purchases have been shipped, including addresses and phone number; e-mail addresses of Friends and other people; and content of reviews and e-mails to us.

Automatic Information

Examples of the information we collect and analyze include the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; login; e-mail address; password; computer and connection information such as browser type, version, and time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, and platform; purchase history, which we sometimes aggregate with similar information from other customers to create features such as Best Sellers; the full Uniform Resource Locator (URL) clickstream to, through, and from our Web site, including date and time; cookie number; products you viewed or searched for; and the phone number you used to call our 800 number. We may also use browser data such as cookies, Flash cookies (also known as Flash Local Shared Objects), or similar data on certain parts of our Web site for fraud prevention and other purposes. During some visits we may use software tools such as JavaScript to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.

Information From Other Sources

Examples of information we might receive from third parties include demographic information.

Information You Can Access

Examples of information you can access easily at Audible.com include up-to-date information regarding recent orders; personally identifiable information (including name, e-mail, password, communications preferences, shipping and billing addresses); credit card information; your Wish List. Other Audible-specific information that can be accessed includes Your Membership/Account details, Your Content Library (My Library), Your Past Reviews and Ratings, and Your Download Preferences.