Argus Online Privacy Notice

This notice was last modified on and has an effective date of June 28, 2024.

This Privacy Notice (“Notice”) provides information about how Argus Information and Advisory Services, Inc., (“Argus,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), a Trans Union LLC (“TransUnion”) Company, handles personal information and describes the rights you may have regarding your personal information. Use of our online and offline services constitutes your agreement to the terms of this Notice. If you do not agree with the terms of this Notice, please do not use our online or offline services.

This Notice does not cover practices of other TransUnion businesses or products, or your interactions with us as a job applicant or employee. Please see those respective privacy notices for more information on those privacy practices.
 

Notice at Collection: We collect personal information as detailed in this Notice. The categories of personal information that we collect are listed below under “Personal information we collect,” and the purposes for which we collect and use personal information are listed below under “Purpose for collecting and use of personal information.” To exercise your right to opt out of the sale or sharing/processing of your personal information for targeted advertising and to make other choices related to our use of these technologies visit our Cookie Policy. To learn more about your privacy rights, please navigate to the “Privacy rights and choices” section below. Our retention practices are outlined below under “Retaining personal information.”

Privacy Overview

We collect your personal information when you visit www.argusinformation.com or our other websites or online services that include an authorized link to this Notice (each, a “Site”) and when you otherwise interact with us, such as by sending us a communication or attending an event that we or an affiliate has organized.

Argus also works to provide intelligence, decision support solutions, and advisory services to its financial institution and other customers (“Analytics Services”). To provide these Analytics Services, our customers typically provide us with commercial data that has been de-identified, including by removing names, email addresses, and other similar identifiers. We maintain policies and technical measures to avoid re-identifying this information. Because we treat this information as de-identified, it generally is not subject to this Notice. However, we have included the “Our products and services” section below to help explain our approach to the Analytics Services more clearly.
 

1. Personal information we collect

We may have collected the following categories of personal information either directly from you or automatically from the devices and browsers that you use in the past 12 months:

• Identifiers, such as name, physical address, email address, telephone number, and online identifiers; and
• Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as device ID, advertising ID, your browser, your browsing history while using our online services (for example, the pages you view, how long you stay on each page, how often you return, and/or the site you visit when you leave us), information about your interactions with ads or online content, and your IP address and information related to that IP address, such as geographical information, domain information, and internet service provider; and
• Professional and employment-related information, such as titles, business addresses, and contact details about our customers and their representatives.

Where permitted by law, we may also acquire personal information about you from third parties, such as our affiliates or third-party marketing agencies. We may also source personal information from publicly available profile information (such as your preferences and interests) on third party social media sites (such as Facebook and X).
 

2. Purpose for collecting and use of personal information

We may collect the above categories of personal information for different purposes. For example, we may use it in the following ways: 

• To operate and improve our website;
• To maintain the security of our website, services, employees, and others;
• To provide services at your request;
• To respond to your inquiries, fulfill requests for services, and contact and communicate with you when necessary;
• To comply with legal requirements, for example, to report on equal employment opportunities;
• To verify your identity;
• To prevent fraud and unauthorized disclosure of personal information;
• To solicit new business (if you are a customer who provides business-to-business information);
• To review the usage and operations of our services;
• To develop new products and services;
• To conduct analysis and research; and
• To enhance or improve our content, products, or services.

We may also use your personal information for other purposes disclosed at the time you provide your personal information or otherwise with your consent.
 

3. Disclosing personal information for business purposes

We may disclose the above categories of personal information to third parties for the following business purposes:

• Third-party Vendors and Service Providers. We may disclose information to parties that provide services to us for a variety of business purposes, including to facilitate the provision of our Sites or other services to you or for advertising or analytics purposes.
• Corporate Affiliates. We may disclose certain information to our corporate affiliates, including Trans Union LLC and its subsidiaries, for a number of reasons, including because you have requested information about our affiliates’ products and services.
• Business Transfers. We may disclose information in connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as the sale of a website, a merger, consolidation, asset sale, initial public offering, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
• Legal Purposes. We may disclose information to respond to subpoenas, court orders, legal process, law enforcement requests, legal claims or government inquiries, and to protect and defend the rights, interests, safety, and security of Argus, our affiliates, users, or the public.

We do not sell your personal information for money. However, some of our Sites may use standard analytics and advertising tools that enable our analytics and marketing partners to collect Internet or other electronic network activity information, including to serve you advertisements that are relevant to you based on your activity across our services and other sites (“targeted advertising”). You can exercise your right to opt-out of our sale or sharing/processing of your personal information for targeted advertising and make other choices related to our use of these technologies by navigating to our Cookie Policy, also linked in the footer of our website.
 

4. Our products and services

We also collect data as part of the provision of Analytics Services to our financial institution and other customers. To provide the Analytics Services, we collect and use commercial data, demographic data, and other data sets from our customers and third parties, and we also may derive inferences from the data we have collected. We treat this data as de-identified because we maintain policies and technical measures to limit the risk of re-identification. 

Among the multi-layered measures that we employ, we work with our clients to remove names, email addresses, and other similar identifiers from the data sets. We also limit access to data sets and hold our associates accountable for safe and responsible data handling practices that adhere to our internal policies.

In addition, in some instances, Argus processes personal information on behalf of its customers. In that case, our customers are responsible for providing appropriate notice to the relevant individuals about the data that we handle on their behalf, for obtaining any required consents for the processing, and for enabling you to exercise your consumer rights in accordance with relevant privacy laws.

If you are interested to learn more about your financial institutions’ privacy and data sharing practices, we encourage you to contact your financial institution or examine its relevant policies.
 

5. Privacy choices and rights

You may have the following choices related to your personal information:

Opt Out of Marketing Communications. You may opt-out of marketing communications from us by following such instructions as may be provided in the communication. We also recommend that you visit the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and register on their consumer web site: https://www.dmachoice.org/.

Opt Out of LinkedIn Communications. To learn how to opt out of Sponsored InMail, navigate to Privacy & Settings in your LinkedIn account, choose the “Communications” tab, and then click “Turn on/off Partner InMail” to disable Sponsored InMails.

Targeted Advertising. You may choose to opt out of digital advertising of many companies through the NAI’s Consumer Opt-Out Program or DAA’s Consumer Choice Page. By clicking on the “Opt-Out” links below, you will be directed to the respective third-party website where your computer will be scanned to determine who maintains cookies on you. At that time, you can either choose to opt out of all targeted advertising or you can choose to opt out of targeted advertising by selecting individual companies who maintain a cookie on your machine.

• Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) Opt-Out: https://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp
• Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) Opt-Out: https://optout.aboutads.info

Analytics Disclosure: We may use Google Analytics 360, including Google Tag Manager and Google Ads. If you would like to learn more about Google Analytics, or opt out of this data collection and sharing activity, please use this link: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. Please visit our Cookie Policy for information regarding our tracking technologies.

Jurisdiction-Specific Privacy Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have certain additional rights, including:

• Access to your personal information in a portable format, or other information about our data processing practices;
• Deletion of the personal information we have collected from you;
• Correction of the personal information we have collected about you; and
• Opt-out of the sale or sharing/processing of your personal information for targeted advertising.

We do not discriminate against you based on your exercise of your privacy rights, although some of the functionality and features available on our Sites may change or no longer be available to you. You may also have the right to appeal a denial of your privacy rights. If you live in a jurisdiction where you have the right to appeal any denials of your requests, you may file your appeal using the same mechanisms discussed below.

Note that we do not process sensitive personal information, or process personal information for profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Access, Deletion, and Correction Rights. You or your authorized agent may exercise your access, deletion, and correction rights by contacting us via the methods in the “Contact information” section below. We may ask you to provide information that will enable us to verify your identity in order to comply with your request. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. We may request that you provide your authorized agent with signed, written permission demonstrating that they have been authorized by you to act on your behalf.

Sale and Sharing/Processing for Targeted Advertising. You may exercise your right to opt-out of our sale or sharing/processing of your personal information for targeted advertising using the mechanism described in the Cookie Policy.

We also support the Global Privacy Control, which is a browser-based opt-out preference signal that communicates your privacy preferences to the websites you visit. For more information on the Global Privacy Control, please visit their website here. Note that because the Global Privacy Control and other choices available to you may be a browser-based mechanism, your opt-out preferences will apply only to the browser from which you exercised that choice. You are welcome, however, to enable the Global Privacy Control on all of your browsers and devices.

Human Resources Data – California Only. If you are a California resident seeking to exercise your privacy rights regarding either human resources data (collected from current or former employees or applicants as part of the application process or employment relationship) or business-to-business customer data (collected from business customers or representatives in the performance of services or marketing outreach) please submit a request via the contact methods in the “Contact information” section below.

Business-to-Business Data – California Only. If you reside in California, you may also have these rights if you have a commercial relationship with Commerce Signals. If you are a customer of, or otherwise have a business-to-business relationship with, Commerce Signals, you can submit a privacy request via the contact methods in the “Contact information” section below.
 

6. Privacy requests via authorized agent

Using an authorized agent (with or without power of attorney) to submit an opt-out request: In order to submit an opt-out request on behalf of another, please provide written permission, signed by the applicable requestor, authorizing the agent to submit the opt-out request. The name of the agent submitting the request must match the name on the authorization.

In order for us to locate the requestor’s record, please also include the requestor’s first and last name (middle name optional) and their address (including unit number, city, state, and zip code). You may also provide the requestor’s Social Security number and date of birth. While those fields are optional, this information makes it easier for us to locate the requestor’s information and complete the request.

Using an authorized agent without power of attorney to submit a verifiable privacy request for access, correction, or deletion of a requestor’s personal information: In order to submit a verifiable request for access, correction, or deletion on behalf of another, an authorized agent without power of attorney must provide one item from each of the two sections below.

1. Signed permission from the applicable requestor authorizing the agent to submit the verifiable privacy request on their behalf, including a description of the type of privacy request(s). The name of the agent submitting the request must match the name of the authorization.
2. The applicable requestor must verify their own identity directly with us by submitting information or documentation that provides sufficient proof of identification, such as:
   1. a Social Security number or a copy of a Social Security card issued by the Social Security Administration,
   2. a certified or official copy of a birth certificate issued by the entity authorized to issue the birth certificate, or
   3. a copy of a driver's license or an identification card issued by the motor vehicle administration or any other government issued identification.

This secondary identification must include or reference the same name as stated in the signed permission form. The submission must also include sufficient information for us to locate the requestor’s file.

Using an authorized agent with power of attorney to submit a verifiable privacy request for access, correction, or deletion of a requestor’s personal information: In order to submit a verifiable request for access, correction, or deletion on behalf of another, an authorized agent with power of attorney must provide the valid power of attorney executed under applicable law. The submission must also include sufficient information for us to locate the requestor’s file.

Documentation may be sent via the contact methods in the “Contact information” section below.

To protect the confidentiality of your data, you and/or your authorized agent may choose to submit your data using confidentiality features offered by your email provider.

All personal information provided as part of this process will be deleted after verification has been completed. 
 

7. Personal information of children

Argus’s services are not intended for use by nor directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18), and we do not knowingly collect children’s personal information as defined by applicable law. If we learn that we have collected or received personal information from individuals under the age of eighteen (18), we will delete the personal information or otherwise comply with applicable law. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of children under the age of eighteen (18).
 

8. Securing personal information

We maintain a comprehensive information security program with administrative (policies, standards, and processes), physical, and technical controls to protect the security and confidentiality of your personal information.
 

9. Retaining personal information

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or processed, as previously described in this Notice, and consistent with applicable laws. We will then delete the personal information, unless we are legally required to retain it or if we need to retain it in order to comply with our legal obligations (for example, for tax and accounting purposes).

When determining retention periods, we consider our relationship with you and your information, the nature and sensitivity of the information, and what is reasonably necessary and proportionate to provide and improve our services. We also adjust retention periods to comply with our legal, reporting, or accounting obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce our agreements. We regularly review our retention periods and assess our data minimization practices, retaining the least amount of information for the shortest retention period, while still upholding all our obligations.
 

10. Corporate reorganization

In the event that we enter into, or intend to enter into, a transaction that alters the structure of our business, such as a reorganization, merger, acquisition, sale, joint venture, assignment, consolidation, transfer, change of control, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, we may share your personal information. We may also share your personal information if we undergo bankruptcy or liquidation, in the course of such proceedings.
 

11. Links to other sites or services

This Notice does not apply to other third-party sites or services. If you click on a link or browse to a third-party site from our site/service, your activity and interaction is subject to that third party's rules and policies. We recommend reviewing the privacy statements on those other sites to understand their privacy practices and make an informed decision regarding your use or interaction with their site/service.
 

12. Contact information

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Notice, our privacy practices and the protection of your personal information, and privacy rights and choices available to you, you may contact us in the following ways:

13. Notice changes and effective date

This Notice is subject to change at any time. If we make any changes to this Notice, we will post the revised Notice on this page with its effective date.