PikChu Media Limited. ("PikChu")
recognizes that its customers, visitors, users,
and others who use www.PikChu.com or other web
sites owned or operated by PikChu (the "PikChu
Sites") (collectively or individually "Users")
value their privacy. This Privacy Notice details
important information regarding the use and
disclosure of User information collected on
the PikChu Sites. PikChu provides this Privacy
Notice to help you make an informed decision
about whether to use or continue using the PikChu
Sites.
This Privacy Notice is incorporated into and
is subject to the PikChu Terms of Use. Your
use of the PikChu Sites and any personal information
you provide on the PikChu Sites remains subject
to the terms of this Privacy Notice and our
Terms of Use.
Please note that any video, image, or other
content posted at the direction of Users onto
the PikChu Sites becomes published content and
is not considered personally identifiable information
subject to this Privacy Notice.
The Information PikChu Collects
• User Provided Information: You provide
certain personally identifiable information
(such as your name, telephone and address) to
PikChu when choosing to participate in various
activities on the PikChu Sites such as sending
photos, posting messages in our forums or in
the comments section, by entering the competitions,
taking advantage of promotions, responding to
surveys, or subscribing to newsletters or other
mailing lists.
• Cookies Information: When you visit
the PikChu Sites, we may send one or more cookies
- a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric
characters - to your computer that uniquely
identifies your browser. PikChu uses both session
cookies and persistent cookies. A persistent
cookie remains after you close your browser.
Persistent cookies may be used by your browser
on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent
cookies can be removed by following your web
browser help file directions. A session cookie
is temporary and disappears after you close
your browser. You can reset your web browser
to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a
cookie is being sent. However, some features
of the PikChu Sites may not function properly
if the ability to accept cookies is disabled.
• Log File Information: When you use the
PikChu Sites, our servers automatically record
certain information that your web browser sends
whenever you visit any website. These server
logs may include information such as your web
request, Internet Protocol ("IP")
address, browser type, browser language, referring
/ exit pages and URLs, platform type, number
of clicks, domain names, landing pages, pages
viewed and the order of those pages, the amount
of time spent on particular pages, the date
and time of your request, and one or more cookies
that may uniquely identify your browser.
• Clear GIFs Information: When you use
the PikChu Sites, we may employ "clear
GIFs" (a.k.a. Web Beacons) which are used
to track the online usage patterns of our Users
anonymously (i.e., in a non-personally-identifiable
manner). In addition, we may also use clear
GIFs in HTML-based emails sent to our users
to track which emails are opened by recipients.
The Way PikChu Uses Information
• If you submit personally identifiable
information to us through the PikChu Sites,
then we use your personal information to operate,
maintain, and provide to you the features and
functionality of the PikChu Sites.
• Any personal information or photo content
that you voluntarily disclose online (on discussion
boards, in messages and chat areas, within your
public profile page, etc.) becomes publicly
available and can be collected and used by others.
Your first name (not your email address), your
submission’s UI (Unique Identifier) and
home town are displayed to other Users when
you submit photos/videos or send messages through
the PikChu Sites and other Users can/could contact
you through messages and comments. Any photos/videos
that you submit to the PikChu Sites may be redistributed
through the internet and other media channels,
and may be viewed by the general public.
• We do not use your email address or
other personally identifiable information to
send commercial or marketing messages without
your consent or except as part of a specific
program or feature for which you will have the
ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may, however,
use your email address without further consent
for non-marketing or administrative purposes
(such as notifying you of major PikChu Site
changes or for customer service purposes).
• We use both your personally identifiable
information and certain non-personally-identifiable
information (such as anonymous User usage data,
cookies, IP addresses, browser type, clickstream
data, etc.) to improve the quality and design
of the PikChu Sites and to create new features,
promotions, functionality, and services by storing,
tracking, and analyzing User preferences and
trends.
• We use cookies, clear gifs, and log
file information to: (a) remember information
so that you will not have to re-enter it during
your visit or the next time you visit the PikChu
Sites; (b) provide custom, personalized content
and information; (c) monitor the effectiveness
of our marketing campaigns; (d) monitor aggregate
metrics such as total number of visitors, pages
viewed, etc.; and (e) track your entries, submissions,
and status in promotions, sweepstakes, and contests.
When PikChu Discloses Information
• We provide personally identifiable information
and non-personally-identifiable information
to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies, or
other businesses or persons for the purpose
of processing such information on our behalf.
We require that these parties agree to process
such information in compliance with our privacy
policy, and we use reasonable efforts to limit
their use of such information and to use other
appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
• We do not share your personally identifiable
information (such as name or email address)
with other, third-party companies for their
commercial or marketing use without your consent
or except as part of a specific program or feature
for which you will have the ability to opt-in
or opt-out.
• We do share non-personally-identifiable
information (such as anonymous User usage data,
referring / exit pages and URLs, platform types,
number of clicks, etc.) with interested third-parties
to assist them in understanding the usage patterns
for certain content, services, advertisements,
promotions, and/or functionality on the PikChu
Sites.
• We may release personally identifiable
information and/or non-personally-identifiable
information if required to do so by law, or
in the good-faith belief that such action is
necessary to comply with state and federal laws
(such as U.S. Copyright Law) or respond to a
court order, subpoena, or search warrant.
• PikChu also reserves the right to disclose
personally identifiable information and/or non-personally-identifiable
information that PikChu believes, in good faith,
is appropriate or necessary to enforce our Terms
of Use, take precautions against liability,
to investigate and defend itself against any
third-party claims or allegations, to assist
government enforcement agencies, to protect
the security or integrity of our web site, and
to protect the rights, property, or personal
safety of PikChu, our Users or others.
Your Choices
You may, of course, decline to submit personally
identifiable information through the PikChu
Sites, in which case PikChu may not be able
to provide certain services to you. Please note
that media files uploaded by Users to the PikChu
Sites cannot be removed and remain subject to
our Terms of Use.
To protect your privacy and security, we may
take reasonable steps (such as requesting a
unique password) to verify your identity before
granting you profile access or making corrections
or asking you to enter a unique text as part
of the voting process. You would be responsible
for maintaining the secrecy of your unique password
and account information at all times.
Please contact PikChu with any questions or
comments about this Privacy Notice, your personal
information, your consent, or your opt-in or
opt-out choices using this contact form
Third-party Advertisers, Links to Other Sites
PikChu allows other companies, called third-party
ad servers or ad networks, to serve advertisements
within the PikChu Sites. These third-party ad
servers or ad networks use technology to send,
directly to your browser, the advertisements
and links that appear on the PikChu Sites. They
automatically receive your IP address when this
happens. They may also use other technologies
(such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons)
to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements
and to personalize the advertising content you
see.
PikChu does not provide any personally identifiable
information to these third-party ad servers
or ad networks without your consent or except
as part of a specific program or feature for
which you will have the ability to opt-in or
opt-out. However, please note that if an advertiser
asks PikChu to show an advertisement to a certain
audience (for example, men ages 18-34) or audience
segment (for example, men ages 18-24 who have
viewed certain channels of content) and you
respond to that advertisement, the advertiser
or ad-server may conclude that you fit the description
of the audience they are trying to reach. The
advertiser may also use information regarding
your use of the PikChu Sites, such as the number
of times you viewed an ad (but not any personally
identifiable information), to determine which
ads to deliver to you.
You should consult the respective privacy policies
of these third-party ad servers or ad networks
(see links below) for more information on their
practices and for instructions on how to opt-out
of certain practices. PikChu's privacy policy
does not apply to, and we cannot control the
activities of, such other advertisers or web
sites.
Currently, PikChu has relationships with the
following third-party ad servers or ad networks:
Our Commitment To Data Security
PikChu uses commercially reasonable physical,
managerial, and technical safeguards to preserve
the integrity and security of your personal
information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant
the security of any information you transmit
to PikChu and you do so at your own risk. Once
we receive your transmission of information,
PikChu makes commercially reasonable efforts
to ensure the security of our systems. However,
please note that this is not a guarantee that
such information may not be accessed, disclosed,
altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our
physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.
If PikChu learns of a security systems breach,
then we may attempt to notify you electronically
so that you can take appropriate protective
steps. PikChu may post a notice on the PikChu
Sites if a security breach occurs. Depending
on where you live, you may have a legal right
to receive notice of a security breach in writing.
To receive a free written notice of a security
breach (or to withdraw your consent from receiving
electronic notice) you should notify us using
this contact form.
Our Commitment To Children’s'
Privacy
Protecting the privacy of young children is
especially important. For that reason, PikChu
does not knowingly collect or maintain personally
identifiable information or non-personally-identifiable
information on the PikChu Sites from persons
under 15 years of age, and no part of our website
is directed to persons under 15. If you are
under 15 years of age, then please do not use
or access the PikChu Sites at any time or in
any manner. If PikChu learns that personally
identifiable information of persons under 15
years of age has been collected on the PikChu
Sites without verified parental consent, then
PikChu will take the appropriate steps to delete
this information.
Special Note to International Users
The PikChu Sites are hosted in the United Kingdom
and are intended for and directed to Users in
the United Kingdom. If you are a User accessing
the PikChu Sites from the European Union, Asia,
or any other region with laws or regulations
governing personal data collection, use, and
disclosure, that differ from United Kingdom
laws, please be advised that through your continued
use of the PikChu Sites, which are governed
by U.K. law, this Privacy Notice, and our Terms
of Use, you are transferring your personal information
to the United Kingdom and you consent to that
transfer.
In the Event of Merger, Sale, or Bankruptcy
In the event that PikChu is acquired by or merged
with a third party entity, we reserve the right,
in any of these circumstances, to transfer or
assign the information we have collected from
our Users as part of such merger, acquisition,
sale, or other change of control. In the unlikely
event of our bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization,
receivership, or assignment for the benefit
of creditors, or the application of laws or
equitable principles affecting creditors' rights
generally, we may not be able to control how
your personal information is treated, transferred,
or used.
Changes and updates to this Privacy
Notice
This Privacy Notice may be revised periodically
and this will be reflected by the "effective
date" below. Please revisit this page to
stay aware of any changes. In general, we only
use your personal information in the manner
described in the Privacy Notice in effect when
we received the personal information you provided.
Your continued use of the PikChu Sites constitutes
your agreement to this Privacy Notice and any
future revisions.
For revisions to this Privacy Notice that may
be materially less restrictive on our use or
disclosure of the personal information you have
already provided to us, we will attempt to obtain
your consent before implementing such revisions
with respect to such information.
Date Last Modified:
This Privacy Notice was last modified March
27, 2006.
Contact Information:
Please contact PikChu with any questions or
comments about this Privacy Notice using this
contact form.