Elmo's Playground Privacy Policy Contents
Created: July 31, 2005
Last Updated: August 1, 2005
- Types Of Personal Information Collected And How We Collect It
- How We Use Your Personal Information
- Disclosure Of Personal Information
- Parental Rights Concerning Personal Information
- Notification Of A Change In Our Privacy Policy
- Contact Information
Types of Personal Information Collected and How
Elmo's Playground from time to time collects personal information from users under 13 years of age and our general audience in order to access certain portions of this website. The Elmo Quiz in the games section will ask for your name and e-mail address. Neither of these is required to participate in the game. In the Chalkboard section you may enter your name, age, and location. Once again this info is not required and can be omitted. The registration area for the Elmo Lover Board will ask for the following required information in order to participate; first name, last name, birthday, user name, e-mail address, and password. In addition to this required information we ask for the following personal information on a voluntary basis; ICQ#, AIM address, MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger, Website, location, occupation, interests, referral, gender, and signature. All of this information listed above is actively collected (asked for). The following information is passively (not asked for) collected; IP address and cookies.
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How We Use Your Personal Information
The information that we require upon registration is necessary in creating and maintaining your account. Your username identifies you, in any way you wish, so as to provide staff and other members a way to differentiate you from other members. We ask for your date of birth for age verification purposes. This information will remain private, however you do have the option of letting others know your birthday by checking the display option. Your birthday is a good way for members to know how old you are, and for us to know when your birthday will be so we can give you extra special Birthday treatment that day. Your username will show up in the bottom area of the board during the week before your birthday. Your first name and last name are collected to verify your identity. This information will also remain private, although you do have the option of displaying your first name by checking the display option. There are two reasons we collect your e-mail address. First, we need a way to contact you. If there is a problem with your account, you request a newsletter, or some other such need this is how we contact you. Second, your e-mail address serves as a means to limit you to one registered account. Since this site runs games that awards Elmo coins, good for purchasing pretend items in the Shop, limiting a user to one registered account insures that one member does not enjoy an unfair advantage over another. Thirdly, your e-mail address is also used for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending new passwords should you forget your current one.) The use of a password is necessary to make sure that no one other than yourself is able to access your account and/or post anything in your name. These fields are required to open an account with this site. Your email address will never be publicly displayed on the Elmo's Playground website. However, we do provide a means for other registered memebers to send messages to your email address. This function can be turned on/off at any time in your account profile. We also provide a private messaging system that enables users to send messages privately on the website without using email. This system should be used at your own risk and is subject to monitoring by the site administrators.
The information that we collect on a volunteer basis is not required, at this time, to access the board. This information serves to let us know who you are and how to develop our site to best meet your needs. The collection of an ICQ number, AIM/MSN/YIM username, or homepage URL, gives us and other members another way to communicate with you if you so desire. We also ask for your location, occupation, interests, gender, signature, and who referred you to our site. This information gives you the opportunity to let us know more about you and helps you to personalize your experience with us. Please use careful consideration when supplying this information for it shows up in your profile and any registered users can view this information. Any members under the age of 13 must get a parent's permission before adding or changing this information in their profile.
Your IP address is automatically recorded upon posting content to Elmo's Playground as a means of regulating and enforcing board rules as well as for the purposes of the suspend/ban administrative functions should it become necessary. This information will only be available to staff members and will only be looked up if we suspect any foul play. This forum system also uses cookies to store information on your computer. These cookies do not contain any of the information you have entered above; they serve only to improve your viewing pleasure.
SPECIAL NOTE! There is a ban on conditioning a child's participation in an activity - i.e. a game or lottery - on the child's disclosure of more personal information then is reasonably necessary to participate in the said activity. What this means is that if we're running a game that has the winner notified by e-mail, we can require an e-mail address but can not require a birth date since there is no reasonable need to ask this.
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Disclosure of Personal Information
Elmo's Playground will not sell, trade, or give out your personal information to anyone without your consent unless we are required to do so by law or court order. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent, the webmaster, administrators, and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.
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Parental Rights Concerning Personal Information
The parents of minors who are using this site may request, at any time, to review their child's personal information, have it deleted, and refuse to allow us to collect further information about their child. This also would prevent us from using the child's information once the request has been made. All such requests must be made in writing to the address in the Contact Information section. They must include the child's username, password, parent's full name, parent's e-mail address, return address, and a clear photocopy of the parent's driver's license. Also include a short note as to what action you are requesting. Although it seems like we're asking for a lot of personal information, we only do so to safeguard the child's personal information. You wouldn't want this information going to someone that just claims to be the parent of your child.
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Notification Of A Change In Our Privacy Policy
From time to time it may be necessary to update this privacy policy. If there are any revisions to the content of this privacy policy you will be notified in two ways. First, we will send an e-mail to everyone who has provided us an e-mail address. The e-mail will simply state, in one form or another, that there has been a change to the privacy policy and give you a link to the privacy policy section allowing you to read the new policy. Second, we will post a message in the Forum Updates section of the ELB.
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You may contact the following people with any questions or problems pertaining to personal information collection. All other questions, comments, and problems should be posted in the appropriate sections of the Elmo Lover Board.
Meghan Hoke or Chris Ghrist
807 Pennsylvania Ave. Apt#1
Irwin, PA 15642
(724)552-3238
Contact us through E-mail.
Due to security concerns we choose not to 'show' our e-mail addresses physically. The above link will allow you to contact us about your questions through our e-mail addresses.
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