WowAce Wiki:Privacy policy

From WowAce Wiki

WowAce (together with its subsidiaries, "WowAce" or "we") considers the protection of personal privacy to be one of our most important values. This privacy policy ("Policy") gives you specific information on how we protect your privacy, how we treat personal information, and the choices you have. This privacy policy complies with the Safe Harbor framework under the E.U. Data Protection Directive. In addition, WowAce self-certifies compliance with the Safe Harbor framework to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

This Policy applies to all web sites and services owned or provided by WowAce and its subsidiaries,which we refer to here collectively as "WowAce Sites". WowAce Sites include, but are not limited to, WowAce.com, as well as other WowAce-branded services. From time to time we may add new sites, domain names or services to those listed above. Please note that this Policy applies only to sites owned and services maintained by WowAce or its corporate subsidiaries and not to web sites or services provided by other companies or organizations to which we link.

As a condition of using the WowAce Sites, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Policy. Additional terms and conditions which govern your use of the WowAce Sites are contained in our User Agreement, and, as applicable, in certain other service-specific license agreements or terms of use, which you will be notified of at the time of your registration for the applicable services.

The Policy is accessible through the WowAce Sites in several ways, including from a link entitled "Privacy" at the bottom of the WowAce.com home page. You acknowledge that this Policy may change over time. If we make a material change to the terms of this Policy, we will give you 30 days notice of those changes ("Notice Period") through reasonably prominent disclosure, including via email. However, you should check the WowAce Sites (and WowAce.com in particular) regularly for these and other important announcements. Your continued use of the WowAce Sites following the Notice Period will notify that you agree to these changes.

Information Collection, Storage and Use

We refer to information that identifies an individual as "Personal Information." In general, WowAce collects Personal Information from users of the WowAce Sites in connection with access to certain online areas or services, including during (i) registration for certain online community services and tools such as message boards, chat rooms or other community services; (ii) registration for special communications, such as email updates and newsletters; (iii) subscription registration; (iv) user surveys; (v) events, sweepstakes, contests or promotions; and (vi) registration for online multi- or single-player gaming, either through the WowAce Sites, within a game publisher's site or through the game itself. Your Personal Information is stored on WowAce computer servers (or those of its service providers) located in the United States.

We may gather navigational, click stream data that indicates the areas of the WowAce Sites you visit or access. This navigational data does not identify you as an individual user (i.e., based on your PII). We may enter into agreements with outside companies that possess the technology that allows WowAce to customize the advertising and marketing messages you receive on the WowAce Sites. Your non-PII and click stream data about your activities on the WowAce Sites may be shared with these companies so this customization can be accomplished. These companies have agreed not to share your information with any third party or use it for any other purpose. Anonymous click stream and demographic information may also be shared with WowAce's advertisers and business partners. We also use and share navigational data in aggregate, non-personal form in order to understand how our users as a group use the WowAce Sites.

Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information in public areas of an WowAce Site, such as the member home pages and message boards, your information can be viewed and possibly used by others. We advise users to be especially careful in such public areas about disclosing Personal Information, such as full name, home address, or phone number.

Below are more details about the Personal Information we, or third parties may gather from you and how we may use it.

A. Membership Information. When you register for membership on an WowAce Site, we will ask you for certain minimum required information, such as your name, birth date, gender, email address and zip code. We may also ask for additional information about you and your interests. We do this so we can better understand your preferences and tailor the WowAce Sites to suit you better. The more information you volunteer, the more we can tailor the WowAce Site and promotions to your interests. Additionally, third-party service providers may require you to assent to their privacy party as a condition to receiving their service.

• Service Providers. We offer our members other services provided by third parties such as email and userpages, among others. When you register for membership on an WowAce Site or activate a related service by clicking on a particular service link (i.e. email) on a WowAce Site, you may be automatically registered to receive the services we offer and some of your Personal Information may be transferred from WowAce to those third-party service providers. By becoming a member, you authorize us and our third-party service providers to send you email updates and information about promotions and special offers. We take care to require that our third-party service providers only use our member's data as necessary to provide the particular service and to give you updates on that service provider's products and services.

• Co-registration with Other Sites. As a member, we offer you the ability to co-register with select third-party partner sites. In some instances where WowAce provides co-registration, the co-registration partners allow you to opt-out of their membership. If you choose to co-register with our partners and accept their terms of service, then you are automatically registered as a member of their select web sites and your Personal Information is transferred to those organizations. As a result, you may receive information from one of these web sites as any of their members would. We advise you to review the privacy and data collection policies of the third-party partner sites for further information. In order to cancel your membership with any of these partners you will need to go directly to the partner's site.

• Advertisers. WowAce may send you emails on behalf of our advertisers. If you opt to receive information from our advertisers they may use your Personal Information to send you advertisements or other notices, via email or postal mail, and it is possible that your information may be shared with others.

• Other Parties. We occasionally provide third parties with Personal Information limited only to your physical address in order to send you promotional mailings.

B. Email Updates to Members. If you so elect at registration, we may periodically send you promotional email about products or services offered by the WowAce Sites, our partners and advertisers. If you want to update your email address or stop receiving these types of promotional emails.

We may contact you regarding account status, changes to this Policy, our User Agreement or other terms of use, to confirm your registration or for any other business reason related to your use of WowAce.

C. Promotions. We may ask you for Personal Information at other times, including, but not limited to, when you enter sweepstakes, contests or promotions sponsored by WowAce or a third party. If you choose to enter sweepstakes, contests or promotions sponsored by a third party, the Personal Information you provide will be subject to the privacy policy of the third party sponsor. We encourage you to check the applicable third party policy before providing any Personal Information.

D. Surveys and User Research. WowAce may conduct email and web-delivered surveys from time to time, as well as instant polls, to gather information about our users. Taking these surveys and polls is entirely optional. You have no obligation to respond to them. We share only the aggregate results of these surveys, not Personal Information, with our advertisers and partners to help them better understand our services and monitor the reach of their advertising or other offerings on our service. We also use some of the Personal Information that you provide in these surveys to help us understand your interests and to make the WowAce Sites more useful to you.

E. Use of Cookies. On the Internet, a "cookie" is a piece of information (a file) that a Web site transfers to a user's computer for record-keeping purposes. The use of cookies is common on the Internet. The process we use to serve advertisements and to track use of the WowAce Sites involves cookies. We use cookies to recognize users who have already registered for a WowAce Site, allowing those users to speed up their future activities on the WowAce Sites. Cookies help WowAce and our advertising service (discussed below) track the frequency and placement of advertisements. Cookies also enable us to measure aggregate (total) usage and traffic to the WowAce Sites and to specific offerings. This aids us in producing content that best meets our users' preferences. In order to implement new services, we may use other types of cookies as well. We also may use cookies to understand better what parts of the WowAce Sites you like best. We may use that information to display advertisements that we think will be of particular interest to you. You may configure your browser to reject cookies, but this may interfere with some functionality of the WowAce Sites. To find out more about changing your browser to reject cookies, we suggest the EPIC Cookies Page http://www.epic.org/privacy/internet/cookies. Certain pages of the WowAce Sites may contain electronic images (called a "single-pixel GIF" or "web beacon") that allow a web site to count users who have visited that page. WowAce occasionally uses web beacons on the WowAce Sites in order to count users and to recognize registered users by accessing the WowAce cookies.

F. Purchase of Products or Services. When you purchase products or services from or through the WowAce Sites we may require Personal Information such as name, address, telephone number and billing information, including credit card, debit card or bank account data. WowAce will not disclose your Personal Information, including billing information, except to the extent necessary to complete your transaction, for example during an online purchase or where needed to deliver a product or service you ordered.

G. Software Updates; Interactive Material. WowAce automatically updates software used in conjunction with certain of the services available on the WowAce Sites. In order to update this software, WowAce collects a user's current version information from the user's computer. This information is not archived and is only used to determine which software requires updating. WowAce may record audio conversations or copy text chat or video images from chat rooms on the WowAce Sites and may disclose such material for use in connection with promoting the WowAce Sites.

H. Sites You Visit. As you access our Partner Sites and browse around the WowAce Sites, WowAce may store information about which pages and which Partner Sites you visit and other information presented in your browser's URL address line. WowAce will use this information to help determine what our users are most interested in.

I. Sharing Non-Personal Information. WowAce may share information that is not Personal Information -- meaning non-personal, aggregate, or summary, information regarding our users -- with other third parties not mentioned in this Policy. This kind of information does not identify you individually.

J. Merger or Acquisition. In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of all or substantially all of its assets, or the sale of an individual website owned by WowAce, WowAce may transfer your Personal Information to a third party as a part of such merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale.

K. Legal Authorities. We may also disclose Personal Information in cases when we reasonably believe that it is necessary to identify someone who may be violating WowAce policies or WowAce Sites" User Agreements or other terms of use, or who may be a threat to WowAce or third party rights, property, or personal safety. The WowAce Sites may disclose Personal Information to comply with valid legal process such as a duly issued search warrant, subpoena or court order.

Access to Other Sites through WowAce

Our Partner Sites. You should be aware that when you are on an WowAce Site, you will have the opportunity to visit, or link to, other sites associated with WowAce. These sites are identified as our "Partner Sites". These sites are not owned or operated by WowAce, but are part of a larger network of sites with which the WowAce Sites share content and advertising opportunities. We do not share your Personal Information with these Partner Sites.

Linking to Other Sites. You may also visit independent web sites, not owned or operated by WowAce, through links on the WowAce Sites. Such sites are operated by external, third-party service providers. Some of these sites will have their own separate membership processes and privacy policies. We do not control sites that are operated by others and are not responsible for the information practices of these sites. Other sites may set their own cookies, collect data or solicit personal information. It is always a good idea to check the privacy policy and terms of use of any site before offering any of your Personal Information. We do not share your Personal Information with these independent web sites.

Information Storage and Security

Your Personal Information is stored on WowAce computer servers (or those of its service providers) located in the United States. We protect your Personal Information with technical, administrative and physical safeguards to protect against loss, unauthorized access, destruction, misuse, modification and improper disclosure. No computer system or information can ever be fully protected against every possible hazard. But WowAce is committed to providing reasonable and appropriate security controls to protect our WowAce Sites and all Personal Information against foreseeable hazards.

Notwithstanding these security measures, please be aware that when you submit Personal Information to the WowAce Sites over the Internet, the information may travel over many systems that are not under the WowAce's control. We take the protection of user data very seriously and to that end take reasonable safeguards to prevent interception of any Personal Information. In the case of shopping pages, for example, the credit card information you submit is protected by secure servers.

Accessing, Correcting and Updating Your Information

To access, correct or update your account or other Personal Information such as your city or interests, please use the "Edit profile page" at the WowAce Site on which you are registered.