Privacy Policy

Who We Are

World Host Group US Inc., which trades under the name DedicatedNow (together with its agents, representatives, consultants, employees, officers, and directors --- collectively, "WHG", "we", or "us"), provides web hosting, domain name, website creation, website security, and online marketing services.  We are a corporation based in Delaware, United States.

How this policy applies

This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect from you, how we use that information, and our legal basis for doing so.  It also covers whether and how that information may be shared and your rights and choices regarding the information you provide to us. You can also find local supplemental privacy notices attached hereto.

Your consent

By using our website, products, or services (hereafter, "our Services"), you're acknowledging that you have agreed to our Terms of Service, that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy, and that you consent to your information being used for the purposes and for the manner described in this Privacy Policy.  For children under the age of 16 to order or use our products or services, a parent or legal guardian must provide the above-mentioned consents on their behalf.

You may withdraw your consent to our management of your personal information, at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions, upon reasonable notice.  However, such a withdrawal may reduce our ability to provide you with certain products and services.  For more information on the implications of withdrawing your consent or to notify us of the withdrawal of your consent, please contact us.

What we collect and receive

For you to use our Services, we need to collect and process certain information.  Depending on your use of our Services, this may include the following types of information.

  1. General personal information
  • Information you provide by completing forms on our website --- your name, company name, email and mailing addresses, telephone number, login, and password details, among others. We may ask you for this information if you register for an account on our Services, subscribe to our newsletter, login to our online "Client Area", upload or submit content through our website (including the "Client Area"), or if you contact us.
  • Information you provide for identity verification purposes when contacting us or for the purposes of processing your payment such as copies of your lawful identification, birthday and any form of identifier. In some cases, our payment processor will request that you provide additional personal information such as a photo of your face to confirm your identity before payment can be processed.
  • For certain domain name products and services, we may request your residency status, whether you are a member of certain organizations and other documentation necessary to demonstrate that you meet the relevant registries eligibility requirements in order to register or maintain your domain name of your choice. Where required, this data and/or documentation will be shared with the registry.
  • Your IP address is collected and logged with most requests made to our systems, tickets, changes in your Client Area for security, abuse prevention and fraud analysis purposes.
  1. Payment information
  • Details of any transactions you make through our Services. As part of a transaction, we may collect payment information, including debit/credit card or bank account details, expiration date, any other necessary financial information according to the payment methods of your choice, billing address and your address, etc., which we require for payment processing, tax (e.g., sales taxes) and any other regulatory purposes.
  • We partner with other companies for payment processing, and the payment information you submit is processed by them in accordance with their privacy policies.
  1. Statistical and cookie information

3.1 Statistical information

  • Statistical information about the way visitors and users interact with our Services, in the form of website traffic analytics (i.e., Google Analytics). The analytics engine passively gathers visitor and user information, including your IP address; the type of device, operating system, and browser you use; and your activity on our website. This information helps us to improve our business, allowing us to provide you with a more friendly and secure user experience. You can opt out of having your data used by Google Analytics here.

3.2 Cookies and URL query

  • We use cookies1) and other technologies such as URL query strings2) to help recognize you as a repeat visitor, to process items in your shopping cart, to recognize affiliates, to save your preferences for future visits to our website, and to compile aggregate statistical data about website traffic and interactions (see above), allowing us to provide you with a more friendly and secure user experience.
  1. Cookies are small data files that are issued to your device when you visit a website and that store information about your use of the website.
  2. URL query strings are small amounts of data transmitted as part of a URL (e.g., website address) when you click on a hyperlink or submit a form in an internet browser.
  • Cookies are stored in your device memory either over the long-term (e.g., to retain your website preferences from visit-to-visit) or as a temporary file which will be cleared from your device memory when you close your internet browser. You may choose to turn off the use of cookies via your internet browser preferences; however, our Services may no longer function properly if you choose to turn off the use of cookies. You may still place orders over the telephone or by otherwise contacting Customer Service.
  1. Communication history information
  • Communications you send to us (e.g., technical support tickets, questions, or feedback) in relation to our Services. We store this information for quality assurance purposes. The correspondence stays confidential between you and WHG, unless otherwise required by law.
  1. Sensitive personal information
  • Sensitive personal information (e.g., social insurance or social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, criminal background, or trade union membership) is usually not required to disclose in direct relation to our Services. However, in case it is retained for any troubleshooting and/or other support purposes, its use will be strictly subject to that purpose, for which that sensitive personal information is disclosed.
  1. User content
  • User content uploaded, collected, stored, used, transferred, or disclosed by you in connection with our Services. Such content includes website and email content in connection with our web hosting, website creation, website security, email solutions and marketing products and services.
  1. Career opportunities
  • If you use our career opportunities feature to apply for a job posted on our website or send us your application via email, we may collect your name, email address and any other information you provide, including your employment history.

How we use this information

We use the information we collect from you for the following purposes:

  • To enable us to provide you with our Services.
  • To process transactions in connection with our Services. After the transaction, you can choose to store your credit card or financial information on file to facilitate automated renewals. You can remove the said information or request its removal from our system and files at any point by contacting us.
  • To keep your account secure and protect our Services (including to prevent fraud and abuse).
  • To restore your account or data where it was accidentally or maliciously deleted, corrupted, or otherwise damaged.
  • To contribute to quality assurance and improve customer service by helping us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs.
  • To promote our Services, in cases where you provided, at your own will, a testimonial or review on our Services, knowing that such would be used for the said purpose. When submitting testimonials through our website or our social media pages you agree that your name, testimonial and website address may be used without additional consent.
  • To send you periodic emails concerning order information, product or service information, company news, and legal information. Emails regarding promotions will only be sent when you have permitted us to use your information by opting in to receive relevant communications from us.
  • To track and analyze use of our Services so we can improve them and provide you with the best experience possible.
  • To evaluate and respond to an application to a job vacancy at WHG regardless of where it is posted and/or through our site.
  • To meet regulatory requirements (e.g., tax laws).

In case we need to use your information for any other additional purposes not listed above, we will reach out to you.

How your information is shared

We do not disclose, publicly display or reveal, sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information, including but not limited to any of your sensitive information, your account information, payment information, or personal contact information to third parties without your prior consent. Non-personally identifiable visitor and user information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, analytics, or similar purposes. Other exceptional cases where we may share your information are as described below:

  1. Information that is shared publicly

When you register for a domain name, we are obligated to transmit certain personal contact information (e.g., your name, address, telephone number, and email address) to the applicable domain name registrar for publication in the publicly accessible WHOIS database. Domain name registrant and you as the account holder are required to provide and maintain accurate contact information in the WHOIS database, which can be a target for data harvesting by persons or organizations engaged in spam, fraud, and identity theft.

As much as we are technically able to and where permitted by the terms of conditions of the corresponding registry operator, we may offer you a privacy, proxy and/or trustee service that will replace your contact details at the registry, or hide them from view on the public Registration Data Directory Service. If you wish to use such a service with your domain name, you should select it during the checkout process or, when not available in the checkout, contact us by support ticket prior to placing your order. We can also enable it for you after placing the order, but the details may be shown between processing of your order and your request.

If you do not opt-in to the above service, you acknowledge and accept that your personal contact information will be publicly disclosed in the WHOIS database.

  1. Information that is shared with trusted third-party services

We may share your information with certain trusted third-party services to help us provide, improve, promote, or protect our Services. When we share data with third-party services that support the delivery of our products and services, we require that they use your information only for the purposes we have authorized.

Our trusted third-party partners include, but are not limited to:

  • Domain name registrars and registries (e.g., Canadian Internet Registration Authority).
  • Payment processors (e.g., Upmind).
  • Server Software providers (e.g., cPanel).
  • Customer support service providers.
  • Website builder and search engine optimization service providers (e.g., Weebly).
  • SSL certificate and website protection service providers.
  • Email distribution and marketing service providers.
  • Analytics processors (e.g., Google Analytics).
  1. Information shared in the context of a transaction

We may also disclose your information as part of a business transaction, in connection with the proposed or actual financing, securitization, insuring, sale, assignment or other disposition in whole or in part of WHG, or its business or assets, for the purposes of evaluating and/or executing the proposed transaction. Assignees or successors of WHG, or its business or assets, may use and disclose your personal information for purposes similar to those described in this Privacy Policy.

  1. Information that is shared to protect WHG and comply with the law

We reserve the right to disclose personal information when we believe that doing so is reasonably necessary to comply with the law or law enforcement, to prevent fraud or abuse, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of WHG, its employees, users, or others. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes cases, where we are obligated to disclose your information as requested by applicable law, as long as such disclosure request ("LEA request") is enforced by a legitimate authority in accordance with due process. We internally control this procedure to make sure that the scope of disclosure is limited to the extent specified in the LEA request.

  1. Links to other websites and services

Our Services may include links to other websites, products, or services ("External Websites") whose privacy practices may differ from our own. When you use a link to an External Website, the privacy policy and data processing disclosures for that External Website govern. We assume no responsibility or liability for the interaction with and activities of an External Website. We welcome any feedback that would help us protect the integrity of our Services, and the safety of our users, including feedback about External Websites. Please send your feedback to [email protected].

Retention

We will retain your information while your account is active, as is necessary to provide you with our products or services, or as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy. We will also retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, including contractual retention requirements, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and protect our legal rights.

We may retain backups of your hosting account content for up to thirty (30) days after your hosting service is cancelled or terminated. Backups may be used to restore your data or account in case the data or account is accidentally or maliciously deleted, corrupted, or otherwise damaged. If you wish your information to be deleted prior to the end of the above-mentioned period, please contact us.

We also collect and maintain aggregated, anonymized, or pseudonymized information which we may retain indefinitely to protect the safety and security of our website, products, and services, improve them, or comply with legal obligations.

Data transfers

We work with trusted third-party service providers (e.g., domain name registrars and registries) around the world to provide you with our products and services. Consequently, some of your personal information may be transferred to other countries for processing. We conform to industry standards to help ensure that your privacy is protected and that any transfers of personal information are safeguarded during transit and at the recipient processor. These third-party countries have their own laws governing data protection and government access to information. We ensure that our service providers comply with all applicable privacy laws and implement contractual clauses imposing obligations on them. For more information about our data processing abroad, please contact us.

You consent to having the necessary personal information transferred to trusted third-party service providers, located in Canada and other countries, for processing to provide you with the products and services for which you have contracted us.

Your rights

Users residing in certain countries, including Canada and European Union member states, are afforded certain rights regarding their personal information. Except where an exception or exemption applies, these rights include your ability to access, correct, and request deletion of your personal information. While these rights are not applicable globally, all users of our Services can manage and revise their personal information in the "Client Area" on our website or by contacting Customer Service.

To modify or delete the personal information you have provided to us, or to manage your marketing email preferences, please log in to the "Client Area" and update your profile or contact Customer Service.

To request an electronic copy of your personal information, please contact us.

To delete your account, please contact us. We may retain certain information as required by law or as necessary for our legitimate business purposes.

Residents of Canada and of European Union member states have the right to restrict or object to the processing of their personal information under certain circumstances (e.g., to contest the accuracy of the data). They have the right to object to processing of their personal information for direct marketing purposes. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us.

Residents of Canada and of European Union member states have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (e.g., privacy office) in the jurisdiction where they reside, or where an alleged infringement took place, if they consider that the processing of their personal information has infringed Canadian or European Union privacy law.

Email notifications

We may send you email regarding your order information, product or service information, company news, promotions, and legal information.
We want to communicate with you only if you want to hear from us. We try to keep emails to a minimum and give you the ability to opt in to any marketing communications we send. You may opt out of receiving marketing email communications by following unsubscribe links located at the bottom of each email, by updating your marketing preferences from your Client Area or by contacting our support.

From time to time, we may provide you with necessary information (e.g., service-related announcements or legal information) to which you will not be able to opt out.

Security

We take security seriously, and the security of your personal information is important to us. We employ a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order with us or access your personal information.

  • Your personal information is stored on secure servers or in secure file storage.
  • All sensitive customer information supplied via our website is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology encryption to our trusted third-party payment processor, only to be accessed by authorized personnel.

No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee its absolute security. Your account information is protected by a password, which you should choose carefully and keep secure. If you disclose your password to a third-party, you may lose considerable control over your personal information and you may risk that legally binding actions be taken on your behalf.

If the security of your password has been compromised, for whatever reason, you should change it immediately, review recent account activity and let us know if you believe any actions have been taken on your account without your consent -- you must let us know immediately if you suspect your account has been compromised.

We encourage the responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities of our Services by contacting us.

Children

You must be 13 years of age or older to register with us. We will not knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of 13. However, if we are made aware that a child under the age of 13 provides us with personal information, we will delete this information from our files, unless we are required to retain the information by law.

If you are under the age of 16, before you may order or use our products or services, your parent or legal guardian must provide written consent on your behalf to our Terms of Service, and this Privacy Policy. In particular, your parent or legal guardian must consent to your information being used for the purposes and for the manner described in this Privacy Policy.

Complaints

If you have any questions regarding our privacy practices or wish to make a complaint, you may contact us by email at [email protected], or by mail at:

World Host Group US Inc.
108 West 13th Street, Wilmington,
Delaware 19801
United States

Changes to the privacy policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time to adapt it to our company, products and services, and legal requirements. We will notify you of any material changes either by displaying a notification on our website or by sending you an email. Any continued use of our website, products, or services after any changes are made to our Privacy Policy will mean that you accept the updated Privacy Policy.

Other supplementary privacy notices

For our European Union users

This supplementary notice provides additional disclosures required by law in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

  1. Controller

When you use services offered by us in the EU/EEA, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, the data controller will be World Host Group GmbH.

  1. Lawful basis

Data protection law in Europe requires a "lawful basis" for collecting and retaining personal information from citizens or residents of the European Union. Our lawful bases include:

  • Performing the contract we have with you: We need your personal information to comply with our contractual obligation to deliver you our products or services.
  • Legal compliance: Sometimes the law says we need to collect and use your data. For example, tax laws require us to retain records of payments made for our products and services.
  • Legitimate interests: This is a technical term in data protection law which essentially means we have a good and fair reason to use your data and we do so in ways which do not hurt your interests and rights. We sometimes require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way that might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and that does not materially impact your rights, freedom, or interests. For example, we may use your identity, device, and location information to prevent fraud and abuse and to keep our website, products, and services secure. We may also send you promotional communications about our products or services, subject to your right to control whether we do so.
  • We analyze how users interact with our website, products, and services so we can better understand which elements of the design are working well and which are not working so well. This allows us to develop and improve the quality of the online experience we offer to all our users.
  1. International Data Transfers

As we operate a business globally, personal data you provide may be transferred from your country to the United States or to another country where we do business. We make these transfers when necessary to provide our services, to perform our contract with you, or when we have your consent to transfer your personal data to another country.

We transfer personal data outside the EU/EEA, Switzerland, and the UK to countries that have been determined by the European Commission to offer an adequate level of data protection. Such transfers are made pursuant to the requirements of applicable adequacy decisions.

For transfers from the EU/EEA and Switzerland to countries that have not been deemed to offer an adequate level of data protection, we transfer personal data pursuant to a data protection addendum with standard contractual clauses and appropriate supplementary measures including, appropriate technical and organizational measures.

For transfers from the UK to countries that have not been deemed to offer an adequate level of data protection, we transfer personal data pursuant to a data protection addendum consistent with the requirements of the UK International Data Transfer Agreement issued by the UK Information Commissioner, Version B1.0.

  1. EU Article 27 Representative

Our EU Article 27 Representative is:

World Host Group GmbH
Breslauer Platz 4, Cologne 50668 Germany

  1. UK Article 27 Representative

WHG Hosting Services Ltd.
Purlieus Barn, Ewen, Cirencester, England, GL7 6BY United Kingdom

  1. Complaints to Data Protection Authorities

In the EU/EEA, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority. In Switzerland, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Federal Data Protection Information Commissioner. In the UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.

Additional disclosure required by Canadian federal and provincial privacy laws

Personal Data you provide to us may be transferred from Canada to another jurisdiction, including but not limited to the United States. If you are a resident of Quebec, Personal Data you provide to us may be transferred to other provinces in Canada or to other countries, including but not limited to the United States. If you believe that applicable federal or provincial privacy and data protection laws have been violated, you may send us a complaint at the addresses set forth in the Complaints part below in this Privacy policy. You also have the right to complain directly to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or the appropriate provincial data protection authority where you reside.

Effective: July 30, 2024