Interest-Based Advertising Policy and Opt-Out

We deliver interest-based ads to your device by using a cookie or other identifier assigned to your device. This policy explains our practices regarding interest-based advertising.

4finance allows you to opt-out of:

  • cookie-based targeted advertisements using 4finance technology for online behavioral advertisements (OBAs),
  • tracking of visits across domains of different media or 4finance sites through 4finance DSP (demand-side platform) technology,
  • any type of cookie-based tracking by third-party technology through 4finance DSP.

The opt-out process erases all previously collected data and places an alternative 4finance cookie into the Internet user’s browser with a special indication of an “opt-out” choice and with no other data. The cookie applies to the specific computer and browser only. If you wish to opt-out on other browsers or computers, you must repeat the process.

Please also note that if all cookies are erased from the computer, the opt-out cookie is also erased and the process must be repeated.

When a user opts out, 4finance will no longer:

  • Identify the user by the unique identifier normally stored in the 4finance 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 4finance.

You can opt-out of receiving interest-based ads as described below. Opting out of receiving interest-based ads does not mean you won’t see any ads within your mobile application. It just means that your ads for 4finance products won’t be based on your interests.

Desktop opt-out

You can “Opt-out” from having cookies stored on your PC when ads are shown from the 4finance Ad Serving system. To “Opt-out” click the button below once. You will then have a cookie which indicates to our system not to write any cookies when displaying ads.

Want to Opt-Out of Interest Based Advertising?
Click here to opt out

Mobile opt-out

You can opt-out of interest based advertising for mobile applications through your device settings.

Opting Out on Apple iOS Devices

If you have an Apple device, you can opt out of interest-based advertising by updating to iOS 6.0 or higher, and setting Limit Ad Tracking to ‘ON’. You can do this by clicking on Settings -> General -> About -> Advertising and toggling Limit Ad Tracking to ‘ON’. Our system is designed to respect your choice and not use information to provide IBA when this setting is ON.

For more information about these iOS options:

  1. Open Settings
  2. Select Privacy
  3. Select Advertising
  4. Click on “Limit Ad tracking”

Opting Out on Android Devices

In Android devices with Google Play Services 4.0 and higher, companies can target advertising to mobile app users by using a unique identifier called the “Android Advertising Identifier.” You can opt out of our IBA services by selecting “Opt out of Interest Based Ads.” Our system is designed to respect your choice and not use information to provide IBA when this setting is ON.

For more information about these Android options:

  1. Open Settings
  2. Select Accounts and/or select Sync (this can vary, depending on your device)
  3. Select Google
  4. Select Privacy and/or Select Ads (this can vary, depending on your device)
  5. Click on “opt-out of interest-based ads”

Advertising, Content Serving and Web Analytics Technology

4finance creates and delivers rich and diverse online marketing campaigns using modern technology and innovative tools. 4finance’s technology collects and stores non-identifying 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

To decide which ads to display, such as showing similar products to those a visitor has looked at before. 4finance uses a cookie mechanism for this purpose, but only on an anonymous basis. This means that 4finance stores no personal information such as email addresses, names or addresses in the cookie or in the cookie-based profile. A cookie is a small text file that can be stored on a computer when, with a browser, a user views advertisements or websites of 4finance. The cookie does not collect names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, or anything that personally identifies the user. 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, 4finance collects and stores in the cookie-based profiles anonymous information such as: operating system, browser version, geographic location, URLs on which 4finance displays advertisements, or facts about interactions with advertisements (such as number of clicks or views). During web requests to 4finance web-servers, our system is exposed to the IP addresses from internet users. 4finance is in full compliance with local personal data protection and privacy laws and is anonymising the data according to local regulations. 4finance does not pass this data to any third party or use this data for any other purposes than analysis on behalf of the site owners.

4finance in their DSP solution does not allow collection or storage of any type of sensitive personal data. Data that are not sensitive but can be used to identify an individual, such as addresses or telephone numbers, are also not collected or stored unless provided voluntarily by an individual Internet user. 4finance does not distribute this information to any other party.

Usage of Collected Data for Advertisements

The collected data can be used in four different ways for online behavioral 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, 4finance has 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, 4finance for a certain period stores the information that interest was shown in a particular product for example, a click, visit, mouse-over, search or similar interaction tracked by 4finance. Based on this information, the 4finance 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.

Display Ads Based on Statistical Probabilities

4finance 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 our 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.

Deciding if an Ad Should Be Shown Based on Responses to the Above Techniques

All the above techniques can be used not only to decide what ad to show, but also whether to show it. Through real-time-bidding or similar technologies, advertisers can use the above technologies for deciding who it is relevant to display their ads for and not showing it to others. When using the collected data for advertising purposes, 4finance conforms to all applicable laws as well as standards which allows consumers to opt out of behaviour tracking by our technology. Accordingly, 4finance does not target sensitive segments of the audience, such as children under 12 or others considered sensitive by the IAB Europe Self-regulation Framework for online behavioral advertisements (OBA).

Links to Other Sites

Ads served by 4finance usually link to 4finance’s web sites or 4finance’s partners websites, which have their own privacy policies. Please consult the respective privacy policy of the web site you are visiting.

Data Security and Protection

4finance implements reasonable security measures to protect all data collected and used by 4finance. At every step, 4finance 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, 4finance solutions are hosted and data are stored only in Tier 3 or Tier 4 data centers, classified according to official data center classification.

Cookie Policy

General Information

Our website uses cookies to help us analyse traffic on our site and customer behaviour. A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

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.

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.

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 data collected with cookies for:

  • Gather statistics on how many users have visited our webpages, how they got there, and what pages they visited and in which order.
  • Assessing which parts of our site need adaptation.
  • Optimizing the website.

Controlling cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish. If you do not want websites to place cookies on your computer at all, you can adapt your browser settings as such that you will be notified before any cookie is placed. You can likewise adapt the settings as such so that your browser refuses all cookies, or only the third party cookies. Likewise, you can remove any of your cookies that have already been placed. Please note that you will have to separately adapt the settings for each browser and computer you use.

Please be aware that if you do not want cookies, we can no longer guarantee our website to function properly. Some functions of the site may be lost, while you may no longer be able to see certain websites. What’s more, refusing cookies will not mean you will no longer see any advertisements. It’s just that the advertisements will then no longer be tailored to your interests and will be repeated more often.

Each browser has a different method to adapt the settings. If necessary, consult your browser’s “help” function, or go to your browser’s manual. If you wish to disconnect cookies of specific parties, you can do this through www.youronlinechoices.eu.

More Information

To learn more about data collection, online behavioural advertisements, web analytics, cookies or other aspects from the perspective of Internet security and privacy, please visit these public sites: www.youronlinechoices.com and www.iabeurope.eu.

Changes to this Policy

4finance ensures that privacy practices described in this policy are up to date and reflect current ad-serving and data collection mechanisms employed by the 4finance platform. We might have to adapt these statements from time to time, which may be due to changes in our website or regulations on cookies. 4finance reserves the right to modify this policy partially or fully at any time without notice. Please wisit this webpage for the latest version.

Further Support

For any questions, comments or complaints regarding this privacy policy or other privacy matters, please contact 4finance Support (programmatic-support@4finance.com).

Last modified: May 12, 2016