Privacy Statement
eGames
has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment
to the privacy rights of our online visitors and to the purchasers of our
products. At eGames, we strive to help our customers protect their privacy
while using our products and services. This privacy statement contains information
about our website and our products, some of which may make use of your Internet
connection. This privacy statement provides information about: what personally
identifiable information of yours is collected; what organization is collecting
the information; how the information is used; with whom the information may
be shared; what choices are available to you regarding collection, use and
distribution of the information; and how you can correct any inaccuracies
in the information. Please note that this policy relates only to websites
or products developed and/ or maintained by eGames, Inc. This policy does
not apply to websites or products developed and/or maintained by other companies
to which we link or which provide services to our website.
Information Collected
On some pages of the eGames website, you can purchase products or register a product online. If you are purchasing a product online, the type of personal information collected includes:
Name
Address
Email address
Phone Number
Credit Card
Information
If you register a product online, the type of personal information collected includes:
Name
Email address
Address
Product
purchased
Location of
Purchase
Your computer
platform
Age
Gender
Telephone Number
What Organizations Collect Information
When you purchase a product online, you are providing the information identified above to eGames.
We have
contracted with two third party entities to provide our e-commerce shopping
cart: 1) A host service, Visual Impact Productions, which provides server space
and bandwidth availability and 2) Skipjack, a credit card processor. The host
service maintains a secure database of customer information, including name,
email and street address, telephone number, but excluding any credit card
information. The credit card processor utilizes a customer's credit card
information to process debits or credits to the customer's credit card account
as necessary. Both entities maintain security measures designed to protect
against the loss, misuse and alteration of your user data under their control.
Both use physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect any
personally identifiable data stored on their computers. Only authorized
employees have access to the information you provide us. Listed are links to
their respective privacy policies:
http://www.skipjack.com/privacy/index.html
When you register a product online, you are providing the information to Equifax Direct Marketing Solutions, Inc. (“Equifax”), an unaffiliated third party. For more information on the registration process and use of the information collected, click here.
The Way Your Information Is Used
The information you provide about yourself when placing an
order is used by eGames and its third-party e-commerce providers to complete
that order. The information may also be used by eGames to send promotional
email messages, but only if you have agreed to receive future promotional
messages when completing your order. Customers who buy products from the
eGames website are shopping on a secure server, which encrypts all of the
customer’s personal information including name, address and credit card number.
Encryption is used to block access and use of this information in an
unauthorized manner. The eGames’ shopping
cart uses Secure Socket Layers. This means that the data being sent to the
eGames server from your browser is encrypted using high-level encryption
technology.
Who Your Information is Shared With
When you register a product through Equifax, as
described below, the personal information you provide in the registration form –
name, address, etc. -- allows eGames and Equifax to inform you of additional
special offers which may be forthcoming, and to send you coupons, or notify you
of products and services of affiliates of Equifax that relate directly to your
specific interests, hobbies or other information you have given. As part of the
entry process, we give you the opportunity to decline to receive any
communications from other parties to whom the information may be provided.
The data collected is used in the aggregate to give eGames and
Equifax demographic information about the entire audience registering eGames
products. eGames uses this information to better understand that audience and
to improve our offerings to our customers. The data collected may also be
disclosed by Equifax to unaffiliated third parties (companies that are not
owned or controlled by us) for various business purposes, including marketing
and joint business efforts for related and unrelated products and services.
What choices are available to you regarding collection, use
and distribution of the information
Users may opt out of receiving future notifications about
new products and features by checking “no” at the bottom of the registration
form or shopping cart. This option allows customers to purchase a product or
register a product without receiving promotional notices. Registering through
Equifax, as described below under the heading “Register,” does provide
information to third parties. In order to “opt out” of sharing information with
third parties, users should not register their products through Equifax.
How You Can Access or Correct Your Information
You can access your personally identifiable information that we collect online
in our registration form by contacting our Customer Service Department at
215-750-6606 and pressing 5 (for our customer service department) or by email
at techpriority@egames.com.
You can correct factual errors in your personally identifiable information that
you have submitted in a registration form by sending us a request that credibly
shows error. To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable
steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.
Register
You can register
products online to receive information about upcoming products and
announcements. Information you submit when completing our online registration
form will not be used for this purpose unless you indicate that you wish to receive
such additional information when you fill out the registration form. We use the
information from the registration form to better design our website, create
better products, bring to market products that consumers are looking for, and,
to the extent you have agreed, to send email messages notifying you of special
offers and promotions.
eGames has partnered with Equifax to handle our customer registration process.
Through their proprietary technology, all new eGames products sold at retail
and on our website will have an option for users to register their product at
the time of installation. This registration is optional, and allows the user to
send their registration information over the Internet or through traditional
mail services. Equifax will also be collecting registration information from
the eGames website registration page.
Equifax (NYSE:EFX), a 103-year-old S&P 500 company, enables and secures
global commerce through its information management, marketing services, direct
to consumer, commercial and authentication businesses. More information about
Equifax, including their privacy policy, can be viewed at http://www.equifax.com/
Cookies
What are cookies? Cookies are pieces of information – in the
form of a small text file - that a Web site transfers to an individual's hard
drive. The cookie transmits information back to the server that placed it, and
most times can only be read by that server. Cookies can make Web-surfing easier
for website visitors by saving the user’s preferences while at our site.
The use of cookies is an industry standard -- you'll find
them at most major Web sites. By showing how and when visitors use a site,
cookies help us see which areas of our website are popular and which are not.
Many improvements and updates to the site are based on the data collected by
cookies such as the total number of visitors and pages viewed. This information
is most easily tracked with cookies. We use the information from cookies to
provide services better tailored to our users’ needs.
We have two primary uses for cookies. First, we use them to specify unique preferences. Secondly, we use cookies to track website user trends and patterns. This helps us to better understand and improve areas of our website. You may also get cookies from third-party advertisers. eGames does not control these cookies. The use of advertising cookies sent by third-party servers is standard in the Internet industry.
Most Internet browsers are initially set up to accept
cookies. You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or indicate when a
cookie is being sent. If you take affirmative steps to decline cookies, it will
not impair your ability to browse our website, but you will not be able to sign
up for an account or purchase products online unless cookies are accepted.
Online Information Display
All new eGames'
products released between May 15, 2002 and December 1, 2003 contain a
technology, the "Online Information Display", that can receive and
display messages in the interface of your game. These messages may include
product updates, patches, special offers and new product information from
eGames.
The end user will be asked if they wish to utilize this new feature during the installation of the product. No personally identifiable information of any kind is collected, and the feature may be turned off at any time in the game's main interface.
The online information display is a one-way website
broadcast from www.eGames.com to the eGames software you are installing. It
will present messages about your product, patches, updates, promotions, new
products and other such information from our website, www.eGames.com.
The way it works is that the software you are installing will use your existing Internet service connection to download very small messages in html (world wide web page) format from our server onto your computer, which are then displayed in the game's interface. This download interaction only occurs if you are connected to the Internet, and only when you start the eGames product you have purchased or downloaded. This interaction only occurs when you start the program, and no interaction occurs when the game is not running. If you are not connected to the Internet when you begin playing this game, no download will occur. These interactions typically are very small, and should not have a significant impact on your internet connection bandwidth, even for 56k telephone modem users.
No information is collected or stored before, during or after this information display system functions.
No third party software of any kind will be installed on
your computer. The system works solely through the eGames software you have
purchased or downloaded, in conjunction with our website, www.egames.com..
An existing Internet Service Provider (such as America
Online, cable modem, DSL, etc.) is required for this service to function.
Advertising Integrated into our Products
Some older eGames applications make use of third-party software developed by
Conducent Technologies, Inc. The software utility (sometimes referred to as the
TimeSink, TSAD.DLL and/or TSADBOT.EXE utilities) was developed by Conducent to
allow unattended updates of advertising messages to be displayed. The utility
was designed to start up each time the computer is turned on, and then used the
Internet connection to retrieve information from Conducent’s ad servers about
what ads to display (and when) in order to refresh the displayed advertising
from time to time. The utility had also sent other information to Conducent’s
ad servers, including the computer’s operating system type and IP address,
which information permitted Conducent to track the number of advertising
impressions and “click-throughs” of ads.The information sent to Conducent’s ad
servers also identified the eGames software product being used in order to
serve appropriate ads, and to track the ad impressions and click-throughs
served to the consumer by that product. These utilities had made use of your
hard drive when downloading advertisements, create folders to store the files
and other data and modify your Windows Registry. This utility is not part
of eGames’ software, but had been integrated into it solely for the purpose of
serving and tracking advertisements. Conducent’s servers that the software
attempts to contact for updates and reporting purposes are no longer active.
If you do not wish to make use of this technology, click here to access a Windows uninstall program to
remove this utility from your computer.
Internet Links in Our Products
Many of our products contain direct links to the Internet.
The user needs to be connected to a full-service Internet Service Provider in
order to visit the websites indicated on these products. The Internet can be
accessed if the user “clicks” on the website buttons. If your computer is set
up to link to the Internet automatically when the user clicks on a website “hyperlink”,
your Internet connection will automatically be accessed when the website
buttons are clicked on.
Some of our products access the Internet through the eGames browser. This
browser and game interface is launched when the game is used, and it contains
buttons that, when clicked on by the user, can access the Internet. The game
play buttons do not access the Internet.
If a user clicks on one of the buttons with Internet access, a screen may open
asking the user to identify from which retail store the user purchased the
product. If the user’s computer is set up to accept cookies, our server will
send a cookie to the user’s computer, which cookie stores (1) the UPC code of
the product, (2) the selected retailer identification, and (3) an expiration date
for the cookie. If a user’s computer is set up not to accept cookies, the user
will be directed to the eGames web site, as default, whenever the browser
buttons are clicked.
Use of IP Addresses
An IP address is a number that's automatically assigned to
your computer whenever you're surfing the Web. Web servers -- the computers
that "serve up" Web pages to your computer- automatically identify
your computer by its IP address. eGames collects IP addresses for the purpose
of tracking visitors’ usage of our site. We do not link IP addresses to any
personally identifiable information, which means that a user's session will be
logged, but the user remains anonymous to us. Personally identifiable
information includes name, address, phone number and email address.
Advertising on our Website
eGames uses a third-party online
advertising service company, Fastclick.com, Inc., to display advertisements
throughout the eGames website.
Fastclick is responsible for maintaining and displaying the
advertisements you may see on our website.
Fastclick uses cookies to collect data from browsers to
aggregate statistical information. This includes IP addresses, browser types,
operating systems, domain names, access times and referring website addresses.
This information is used for the operation of the service, to maintain quality
of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of Fastclick.
Fastclick does not, and cannot, collect personally identifiable
information about visitors to our website, such as email address, name, phone
number and street address.
For more information about Fastclick.com, Inc., and their
technology, or to opt-out of receiving cookies via their advertisements, please
view their privacy policy on their website at http://www.fastclick.com/co_privacy.html
Children’s Guidelines
eGames encourages parents and guardians to spend time online
with their children and to participate in the activities offered by our
website. No information should be submitted to or posted at eGames.com by
customers under 13 years of age without the consent of their parent or
guardian. All customers under the age of 13 are required to have a parent
register products online for them. We currently do not collect personally
identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13.
Links to Other Sites
Users should be aware that when they are at eGames.com, they
could be directed to other sites that are beyond our control. There are links
to other sites from eGames web pages that take you outside our website. For
example, if you "click" on a banner advertisement, the
"click" takes you off the eGames site. This includes links to
advertisers, website traffic auditing services, e-commerce service providers
and co-branding partners. These other sites may send their own cookies to
users, collect data, or solicit personal information. The eGames privacy policy
does not extend to anything that is inherent in the operation of the Internet,
and therefore beyond the control of eGames.
Your Consent
By using this website, you consent to this privacy policy.
If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our website.
Changes to this Policy
Here at eGames, we continuously work to expand and improve
the eGames.com website. When new features are added, we will incorporate the
information collection and use practices stated in the policy. We will post any
changes to this privacy policy at least 14 days prior to the change taking
effect unless otherwise required by law.
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the
practices of this site, or your dealings with this web site, please contact us
at webmaster@egames.com.