Gazillion Privacy Policy
Effective as of: May 4, 2012
Welcome to the Gazillion Privacy Policy. Privacy is very important to us, and it should be to you too. We are dedicated to safeguarding all personal information collected online and to helping our visitors learn how to exercise control over personal information while on Gazillion Sites.
This Privacy Policy and the certification seal shown on this page confirm that our Site submits to the terms of ESRB’s Privacy Online Program. ESRB’s Privacy Online Program is designed to ensure that a website’s information disclosure practices are responsible and appropriate. To protect your privacy, we have voluntarily undertaken this privacy initiative and all of our websites have been reviewed and certified by ESRB Privacy Online to meet established information collection and use practices. As part of this privacy policy, we are subject to frequent audits of our websites and other enforcement and accountability mechanisms administered independently by ESRB.
This Privacy Policy applies to all websites associated with the Gazillion name, including but not limited to: http://www.gazillion.com, http://www.marvelheroesonline.com, http://www.HeroUp.com and http://www.amazingsociety.com.
Table of Contents
- Definitions
- Scope of This Privacy Policy
- The Information We Collect
- How We Use the Information
- Cookies and Web Beacons
- Internet Protocol and MAC Addresses
- Collection of Information by Third-Party Sites
- Security
- Choices you have regarding the collection, use, and distribution of your PII
- Contact Us
- Updates & Effective Date
- A Final Note to Parents
- Agreement
1. Definitions
First, we need to define a few terms so that you can better understand this Privacy Policy.
“Child” or “Children” — A person or persons 12 years of age or younger.
“Closed Beta Test” — The time when any part of the System or any Gazillion Game is open for testing but not open to the public (and not open to Minors).
“Gazillion Account” — Refers to the account you may open on the System for Gazillion Games.
“Gazillion Account Holder” — Refers to any individual that has opened a Gazillion Account on the System.
“Gazillion Game” — Refers to any online game offered by Gazillion.
“Minor” or “Minors” — A person or persons 17 years of age or younger.
“Open Beta Test” — The time when any part of the System or any Gazillion Game is open for testing by the public but not deemed operational by Gazillion.
“Parent” — This also includes legal guardians, whether or not a Minor lives with them.
“Personally Identifiable Information” or “PII” — This is information that can be traced directly back to and identifies an individual. PII includes: first and last names, e-mail addresses, home addresses, telephone numbers, and Instant Messaging (IM) screen names when associated with a particular messaging service (e.g., AIM).
“Site” or “Sites” — Refers to the Gazillion site (http://www.gazillion.com), and the Gazillion studio or Game sites, including, but not limited to http://www.marvelheroesonline.com, http://www.HeroUp.com and http://www.amazingsociety.com.
“System” — Refers to the websites, social networking features, and all interactive features, forums, chat rooms and services associated with Gazillion and Gazillion Games.
“Teen” or “Teens” — A person or persons between the ages of 13 – 17; inclusive.
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2. Scope of This Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies only to Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”) collected on any website where this Privacy Policy is posted (the “Site”) and does not apply to any other information collected by Gazillion and its affiliated entities through any other means. Gazillion and its affiliated entities are collectively referred to in this Privacy Policy as “Gazillion,” “we” or “us.”
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3. The Information We Collect
At Gazillion, we do not collect PII on our Site unless our visitors voluntarily provide it to us. For some activities, such as online polls or surveys, we may ask visitors to provide information that is not personally identifiable. This might include first name only, city or state of residence, age, gender, or a favorite color.
In connection with registration for a Gazillion Account, we may ask users to provide certain information that is not personally identifiable such as city or state of residence, date of birth, and gender. We collect and store an e-mail address to use in the case of forgotten passwords and to send newsletters and/or marketing information for which the individual has consented.
For other activities, such as sending an electronic postcard or e-mail to invite a friend to join Gazillion, we may also ask for personal information about other people. Gazillion stores the email addresses and first name that you provide and uses them solely to contact the owner of the email address. For these Site activities, Gazillion sends one initial invitation email and may send multiple reminders; for other email-based communications, Gazillion sends an email specific to that communication. Gazillion does not share, sell or rent these email addresses with any third parties.
On occasion, a Game could offer the opportunity to sign in and register an account using Facebook Platform credentials. We respect Facebook’s Privacy Policy, and only request and collect information necessary to complete a registration with our site. This information could include, but not limited to: email address, age, first name, last name, and IP address. Before Gazillion can collect any information from Facebook, it is Facebook’s policy to request confirmation from you, verifying that you agree to the information share from Facebook to Gazillion in order to create an account and play the Game. As part of the login process, Facebook may provide information beyond what we request in accordance with Facebook policies. If you wish to discontinue the use of your Facebook credentials, you must contact us via Customer Support and request a deactivation. At that time you will no longer be able to access the account created by using your Facebook credentials.
Recipients of invitations who are not registered Gazillion Account Holders can request that their emails be added to a “black list” to which Gazillion sends no further invitations.
For some limited activities, campaigns, or offers, we may ask you to provide your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, fax number, credit card information, cable or satellite provider, and/or information about interests in and use of various products, programs, and services.
When visitors come to any of our Sites, we also may collect some non-personally identifiable information such as the type of computer operating system you are using (e.g., Windows or Mac OS), the type of browser you are using (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox), the domain name of the Internet service provider (e.g., Comcast, Earthlink), your activities while visiting our Site, certain other technical information that may be passed on automatically, and your activities while utilizing services on our Site. This non-personally identifiable information is not associated with any PII you may give us. The information collected will be used to enhance features and provide feedback for improvements to our Sites.
Special rules apply to Closed Beta Tests. Closed Beta Testers must be 18 years or older, or have verified permission from the parent/legal guardian. In order to become a Closed Beta Tester, you, or your parent/legal guardian, will have to provide certain Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”), and also agree to enter into a Non-Disclosure Agreement (“NDA”) that will severely restrict your ability to discuss anything about the Site.
Closed Beta Tester information that you may have to disclose to us includes, but is not limited to: First and last name, e-mail address, MAC and IP addresses, demographic information such as sex, city/state/country, and age.
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4. How We Use the Information
We use visitors’ PII collected for internal purposes only, such as enabling visitors to enter our online contests or sweepstakes or to subscribe to an online newsletter. We may also use PII to send e-mails regarding special offers, new partners, or other reminders. These notifications are sent only to those visitors to the Site who ask to receive them.
We use information we collect about others to enable visitors to our Site to communicate with those other people, for example, by sending them electronic greeting cards or invitations to join Gazillion or play Gazillion Games. We routinely purge that content from our database, and do not store it for any purpose other than the one time usage.
We do not keep any PII we obtain through a contest or sweepstakes beyond when we have successfully selected a winner(s), awarded the prize(s), and administered the contest or sweepstakes.
We only use the e-mail addresses of subscribers to our Site’s e-mail newsletters to send them the requested newsletter(s). Each newsletter also includes instructions for subscription removal via return e-mail. Customers are presented with the ability to opt-out during the registration process; we will not send commercial e-mails to customers who choose to opt-out of newsletters during the registration process.
In the event that you request that we no longer collect or maintain your PII, your access to the Site and the Services offered by Gazillion may be limited and you may not be able to participate in certain activities offered either free, or at a fee, by Gazillion, including participating in any Beta Test programs.
We never sell, rent, or otherwise share our visitors’ PII with third parties without appropriate consent. Sometimes, we use agents or contractors to provide services, such as helping us conduct a sweepstakes, sending prizes to winners, shipping customer orders made on the Site, or providing customer service related to activities on the Site. In these cases, we require the agent or contractor to keep the information confidential and to use it only for the specific services they are performing. We sometimes use non-personally identifiable information that we collect to improve the design and content of our Site, and to improve our visitors’ experience on the Site. We also may aggregate this information to analyze Site usage, as well as to offer products, programs, or services.
We may disclose PII in response to legal process, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena. We also may disclose such information in response to a law enforcement agency’s request, or where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Service (TOS) or End User License Agreement (EULA), to verify or enforce compliance with the policies governing our Site and applicable laws, or as otherwise required or permitted by law or consistent with legal requirements. In addition, we may transfer PII about you if we or one of our business units are acquired by, sold to, or merged with another company to such company.
We will not use or transfer PII in ways that are materially different from the ones described above without also providing notification of such practices and obtaining consent for any materially different uses.
We reserve the right to retain any PII you provide us, even if you request that we remove that information, up to the maximum length of time allowed under Federal or state law in order to fight fraud or abuse on the Gazillion Service and in Gazillion Games, or for other purposes allowed under Federal and state laws.
Please note that any information, including personally identifiable information that you reveal in a bulletin board, chat room, news group or other public forum is publicly viewable on the Site. Please refer to the Terms of Service (TOS) if you wish to learn more about the information you choose to share within the Gazillion Service and Gazillion Games.
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5. Cookies and Web Beacons
Our Site uses software technology called “cookies.” Cookies are small text files that we place in visitors’ computer browsers to store their preferences. Cookies themselves do not contain any personally identifiable information. Although cookies could enable us to relate a visitor’s use of our Site to PII that the visitor has provided, such as an e-mail address, we do not use cookies for this purpose. For some activities, we may use session cookies to ensure that visitors under the age of 13 do not attempt to register an account, or to otherwise have a better user experience. We do use cookies to determine how many visitors we have, where they arrive from, and how often they visit various sections of our Site.
“Web beacons” are small pieces of code placed on a web page to monitor behavior and collect data about the visitors viewing a web page. For example, web beacons can be used to count the users who visit a web page or to deliver a cookie to the browser of a visitor viewing that page. We may use web beacons on our Site from time to time for this and other purposes.
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6. Internet Protocol and MAC Addresses
An Internet Protocol (“IP”) address is the unique number assigned to your server or Internet Service Provider (“ISP”). The Media Access Control (“MAC”) address is a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network and is normally assigned to the network interface card (NIC) or other network adapter that you use to connect to the internet. Gazillion may track such IP and MAC addresses for system administration, to report aggregate information, Site tracking, or to prevent our servers from being abused.
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7. Collection of Information by Third-Party Sites
Our Sites may contain links to other websites, including those of our partners, sponsors and advertisers, whose information practices may be different from ours. Sometimes these third party websites might conduct contests or sweepstakes that are promoted on our Site. Visitors should consult those other third party websites’ privacy notices, since those websites are not covered by our Privacy Policy and may follow different procedures. If you click on one of these third-party links from any of our kid-targeted Sites, you will receive a notification that you are about to leave the Site and travel to a third-party site.
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8. Security
We have taken steps to assure that all information collected will remain secure and in its original form, i.e. free from any alteration. As such, access to all PII is strictly controlled. We have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures in an effort to help safeguard and prevent unauthorized access, maintain data security, and correctly use the information we collect online.
We are particularly sensitive to visitors’ security concerns regarding the use of credit cards in connection with some services on our Sites, including playing Gazillion Games. For orders placed on our Site, we use a technology that automatically encrypts credit card data while information is being transmitted over the Internet, provided that the visitor’s browser supports the Secure Socket Layer protocol (SSL).
To verify the security of your connection at our Site, check the lower left corner of your browser window after accessing the server. If you see an unbroken or a closed lock, then SSL is active and the server is secure. You may also check by looking at the URL line of your browser. When accessing a secure server, the Site address will change from “http” to “https”.
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9. Choices you have regarding the collection, use, and distribution of your PII
If for any reason you are concerned with the way we are using your PII, or would like to change the way we use it, please send a letter or postcard to our Privacy Manager at the mailing address provided below and indicate which of the following you would like to do:
- correct factual errors in such information,
- request to have this information deleted, or
- request that we no longer collect or maintain such information.
Alternatively you can send an e-mail to privacy@gazillion.com with the subject field: “Collection of Personal Information.”
Please be sure to include your e-mail address and a telephone number where we can reach you.
If you are a California resident, California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits you to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, information about the personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. If applicable, this information would include a list of the categories of personal information that was shared and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you do not want your name and contact information to be shared with any company or organization, you may notify us at any time by writing to us at the email and or regular mail address below.
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10. Contact Us
If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy and/or practices, or if you would like to review the information we have collected regarding your child, please contact us at the following e-mail address, mailing address and telephone number:
Email: privacy@gazillion.com
Mailing Address (Letters or Postcards only, please):
Legal Department
Gazillion
475 CONCAR DR
SAN MATEO, CA 94402
1.800.574.7030
Gazillion is a licensee of ESRB’s Privacy Online Program. If you believe that we have not responded to your privacy inquiry or your privacy inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, please contact ESRB at http://www.esrb.org/privacy/contact.jsp, or contact:
ESRB
Attn: Privacy Online Program
317 Madison Avenue, 22nd Floor
New York, NY 10017
privacy@esrb.org
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11. Updates & Effective Date
From time to time, we may update this Privacy Policy. We will notify you about material changes in the way we treat personally identifiable information by placing a notice on our Site. We will also notify all subscribers via an e-mail to the e-mail address we have on file when there has been a material change to this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to periodically check back and review this Privacy Policy so that you always will know what information we collect, how we use it, and to whom we disclose it.
The Privacy Policy posted on this Site was updated on or about May 4, 2012.
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12. A Final Note to Parents
We recognize a special obligation to protect PII about young children. We urge parents to instruct their children to never give out their real names, addresses, or phone numbers, without permission, when on- line. Minors between the ages of 13 and 18 should encourage their parents to review this policy and to contact us if they would like to evoke our opt-out policy or to raise any concerns. All commercial sites directed to children under 13 are prohibited by U.S. law from conditioning a child’s participation in an online activity on the child providing more personal information than reasonably necessary. Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to create Gazillion Accounts without verified parental permission, as specified by COPPA legislation and approved by the ESRB Safe Harbor Program. Some games, like the Teen Rated games, age-block Children entirely. Please see the Terms of Service for further information.
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13. Agreement
By using any Gazillion Site, you signify your assent to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use any Gazillion Site. This Privacy Policy may change from time to time, so please check back periodically to ensure that you are aware of any changes. If we make a material change to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting the change on this website or in this Privacy Policy and, if necessary, give you additional choices regarding such change. Your continued use of any Gazillion Site will signify your acceptance of these changes.