ZwinkyCuties.com Privacy Policy

ZwinkyCuties.com was created to provide children with a fun and safe online experience, and to provide parents with peace of mind that their children's privacy is respected and protected when using the ZwinkyCuties.com site and any of its features.

We take care that our content is suitable for children, especially those under the age of 13, and as such, ZwinkyCuties.com's practices comply with or exceed the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We do not ask our users to disclose more personal information than is reasonably necessary for them to participate in a particular activity, and we take great efforts to prevent users from posting any contact or personal information on the site.

We are dedicated to safeguarding any personal information we do collect, and to helping parents and children exercise control over the collection and use of such personal information.

1. The information we collect

Children can visit the ZwinkyCuties.com site and register to use and enjoy the ZwinkyCuties.com virtual world without any personally identifiable information being collected from them other than their parent or guardian's email address for purposes of parental notification/consent.

To register for an account, ZwinkyCuties.com collects from the user only non-personally identifiable information about themselves, namely, their gender, date of birth, country/state of residence, a user name (with a notice not to use a real name) and a password (plus a hint in case the password is forgotten). Once a child has registered, they can temporarily access the basic functionality of ZwinkyCuties.com for a period of up to 7 days. As part of the registration process, a child must also provide a parent or guardian's email address. Before either a permanent basic or premium/paid account is activated, we send an email to the parent or guardian informing them that their child has requested to register, and asking for the parent or guardian's permission by following the instructions in the email notification.

Only after a parent consents to their child's registration will the child's account be established and activated. As part of the consent process, the parent or guardian is given the choice of having their child's registration continue as "basic", or turning it into a paid "premium" subscription. If the parent or guardian wishes to sign their child up for a premium subscription, which involves a fee, we or our third party payment processor will collect the parent or guardian's physical address and credit card information needed for the subscription payment, as set forth in section 6 of this document. When a parent or guardian consents to a basic account or orders a premium subscription, a separate account in ZwinkyCuties.com is established for the parent themselves, giving them access to a "parent's control pane" of sorts.

A parent can refuse to allow their child to become a member of ZwinkyCuties.com, which will prohibit access to the site by your child once the 7 day temporary access period ends. If we do not hear back from you within the 7 days, we will assume you have not consented to your child being registered with us, and your child's account will be deactivated. In addition, any information that was provided by your child, including your email address, will be purged from our system within a reasonable amount of time. Once we receive parental permission, the registration information is only used to permit children to use the functions of ZwinkyCuties.com or our internal purposes, and not for any other purpose. In the event that we do collect personally identifiable information, parents will be given the ability to consent to our collection and use of such personally identifiable information without consenting to the disclosure of that information to third parties.

During the 7 day temporary access period, and following our receipt of a parent's consent, the child becomes a member of ZwinkyCuties.com, which allows them exclusive access to certain ZwinkyCuties.com services, such as the ability to create and dress their own avatar, decorate their room, "purchase" virtual merchandise, and use the online "chat" service to communicate with other members of the site. Our chat service is limited to specific, pre-vetted phrases, and does not allow users to freely type any information. Basic members will have limited access to, and use of the ZwinkyCuties.com services.

Like many websites, ZwinkyCuties.com also gathers usage data regarding users' activity on ZwinkyCuties.com, including what web pages they visit or share, what functions they use, content they rate, tag and select as their favorites, as well as overall time spent on ZwinkyCuties.com. We use this data for internal analysis about site performance and services.

For some of our online activities - such as polls or surveys - we may ask users to provide additional information that is not personally identifiable, such as city of residence or a visitor's favorite book.

The only time we will ever collect personally identifiable information (other than the parent's email address) is when a user participates in and wins a contest, sweepstakes, or other similar program. No personally identifiable information will be required to participate - only to collect the prize. When a winner has been selected, both they and their parents will receive notification via their ZwinkyCuties.com account; parents will also receive an email, sent to the address associated with their account. The notification and email will outline the information required to collect the prize, as well as how we intend to use such information. For winners and their parents, such information will supplement this privacy policy, and be considered a part of it. Examples of the type of information we would require include the winner's name and mailing address. Examples of ways we may use the information include providing the winner's name and address to a fulfillment company, or to a sponsor of the contest/sweepstakes.

Finally, when visitors come to our site, we automatically collect some non-personally identifiable information, such as the type of computer operating system (e.g., Windows XP or Mac OS), the user's "IP Address," the web browser (e.g., Firefox, Internet Explorer) being used, and the referring website.

2. How we use the information

We use the only personally identifiable information generally collected by ZwinkyCuties.com - a parent or guardian's email address - to communicate with parents and guardians (to tell them about new services available on ZwinkyCuties.com, to obtain their feedback about our service, to send a newsletter, to present them with promotional offers that may be of interest to them, etc.), and to provide them access to their accounts.

We sometimes use the non-personally identifiable information that we collect to improve the design and content of our site, to personalize our visitors' experience on ZwinkyCuties.com, and to offer products, programs, and services. We also may use this information in the aggregate to analyze site usage, as well as to offer products, programs, or services.

We will not use or transfer personally identifiable information in ways that are materially different from the limited ways described above without also providing parental notification of such practices and obtaining consent for any materially different uses.

3. When we disclose personally identifiable information

ZwinkyCuties.com does not sell, trade or rent personally identifiable information about children collected on the site. The information collected by ZwinkyCuties.com is used to keep parents informed of their child's activities on ZwinkyCuties.com, notify parents of products, promotions or special offers that may be of interest to them, notify winners of contest or sweepstakes, and for improving the functionality of our site and performing statistical and data analyses. We may disclose a contest/sweepstakes winner's personally identifiable information to third parties to award their prize, or publicize the promotion, but in such cases, special permission will be sought.

We may also provide personally identifiable information to our authorized service providers who assist us in providing the services and performing functions on our behalf. They are prevented from using it in any other way. We may also share personally identifiable information about parents with our family of IAC companies.

We will disclose information we maintain when required to do so by law, 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 or other public agency's (including schools or child services) if we feel that such disclosure may prevent the instigation of a crime. Finally, we may disclose information if there is a transfer of the assets or ownership of ZwinkyCuties.com in connection with proposed or consummated corporate reorganizations, such as mergers or acquisitions, to the extent permitted by law.

4. Use of cookies and other technologies to collect information.

In addition to the collection of information described above, ZwinkyCuties.com uses various technologies to collect information from your computer and about your activities on our site.

• Cookies. When you visit our website, we may assign your computer one or more cookies, to facilitate access to our site and to personalize your experience with ZwinkyCuties.com. A cookie is a small text file, with no personally identifiable information, that we place on the user's computer browser. Through the use of a cookie, we also may automatically collect information about your online activity on our site, such as the web pages you visit and the links you click. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, please note that you may not be able to sign in or use some of the interactive features offered on our website.
• Other technologies. We may use standard Internet technology, such as web beacons and other similar technologies, to track your use of our site. Web beacons are tiny graphics which are embedded in the webpage and are used for similar purposes as cookies to track activity. We also may include web beacons in e-mail messages or newsletters to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon. The information we obtain in this manner enables us to customize the services we offer our website visitors to deliver targeted advertisements and to measure the overall effectiveness of our online advertising, content, programming or other activities.
• Information collected by third parties. We may allow third parties, including our authorized service providers, IAC companies, advertising companies, and ad networks, to display advertisements on our site. These companies may use tracking technologies, such as cookies, to collect information about users who view or interact with their advertisements. Our website does not provide any personal information to these third parties. This information allows them to deliver targeted advertisements and gauge their effectiveness. Some of these third-party advertising companies may be advertising networks that are members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which offers a single location to opt out of ad targeting from member companies (www.networkadvertising.org).

5. How we protect your personal information

We take appropriate security measures (including physical, electronic and procedural measures) to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, only authorized employees are permitted to access personal information, and they may do so only for permitted business functions. In addition, we use encryption in the transmission of your sensitive personal information between your system and ours, and we use firewalls to help prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to your personal information.

We want you to feel confident using our website. However, no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information, searches, or other communications will always remain secure. Users should also take care with how they handle and disclose their personal information and should avoid sending personal information through insecure email. Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission's website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data.shtm for information about how to protect yourself against identity theft.

Please be aware that our site may contain links to other sites on the Internet that are owned and operated by third parties. ZwinkyCuties.com is not responsible for the privacy policies of websites to which it links. If you provide any information to such third parties, different rules regarding the collection and use of your personal information may apply. We strongly suggest you review the privacy policies of other websites before providing any data to them. The information practices of those Web sites linked to our site are not covered by this Policy. These other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data or solicit personally identifiable information.

6. Parental review of information

Parents who wish to access log-in information that ZwinkyCuties.com has collected online from their child, correct factual errors in such information, request to have this information deleted, or request that we no longer collect or maintain such information may do so either through their account on ZwinkyCuties.com or by sending an email.

You can review and edit certain information relating to your child's ZwinkyCuties.com account at any time by logging into the parent's center account that is created once the registration is approved by going to www.ZwinkyCuties.com. You will need to have your e-mail address that you used to sign up and the password you selected at sign up. If you choose not to allow ZwinkyCuties.com to further collect or use your child's information, you can suspend your child's account from within the parent's center by signing into the account and choosing the "disable" option, or you can contact us directly to delete your child's account completely. In the case of a deletion request, your child's comprehensive information will be deleted within seven (7) days.

To request this information by email, send an email to privacy[at]iaccap.com. Please be sure to include your email address and a telephone number where we can reach you. To protect your child's privacy and security, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you access to any information pertaining to your child.

7. Contact us

Should you have any inquiries regarding our privacy policy and/or practices, or if you wish to have your child's account permanently deleted, please feel free to contact us at/via the following address, fax number or email:

Zwinky Cuties

c/o IAC Consumer Applications & Portals, Inc.
One North Lexington, 9th Floor
White Plains, NY, 10601
ATTN: Privacy Agent/Legal Dept.
fax: 914-591-0205
email: privacy[at]iaccap.com

8. A final note to parents

Parents are strongly encouraged to participate in their children's online activities and monitor their children's use of e-mails, instant message programs, and engagement in other electronic communication. For more information about COPPA or children's privacy, please visit www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data/child.shtm.

The Internet offers a world of opportunity for children. Your guidance and involvement are essential to help ensure that children have a safe and rewarding online experience. We encourage you to visit getnetwise.org or SafeKids.com and review their online safety tools and information. Your efforts to instill responsible information practices will help steer your children to age-appropriate sites and will go a long way toward ensuring that your children have enriching experiences online.

9. Effective date

The privacy policy set out above is effective as of November 24, 2008. As we continue to offer our visitors new and different types of content and services, we may modify our practices from time to time. However, we will treat all personal information we collect in accordance with the privacy notice in effect at the time the information is collected, unless we obtain your consent. ZwinkyCuties.com reserves the right to change its privacy policy at its sole discretion. ZwinkyCuties.com users will be informed of any such change by posting a new privacy policy on the ZwinkyCuties.com website. The effective date of any change of privacy policy will be clearly marked.

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