Electronic Arts (EA) and its subsidiary companies respect the privacy rights of our online visitors and recognize the importance of protecting the information collected about you. We have adopted a corporate wide Online Privacy Policy that guides how we collect, store and use the information you provide online.
This Privacy Statement and the certification seal located above right confirms that Electronic Arts is a valid licensee and participating member in the Entertainment Software Rating Board's Privacy Online Program: ESRB Privacy Online. To protect your privacy, we have voluntarily undertaken this privacy initiative and all of our web sites have been reviewed and certified by ESRB Privacy Online to meet established online information collection and use practices. As part of this privacy program, we are subject to frequent audits of our sites and other enforcement and accountability mechanisms administered independently by ESRB.
ESRB Privacy Online is a third-party seal provider whose mission is to protect consumers' online privacy and make the Internet a secure, reliable, and private place to share information and conduct business. ESRB Privacy Online promotes and enforces established principles and guidelines for fair information practices that include requirements of full disclosure, notice, and informed consent.
Whenever you visit a web site that displays the ESRB Privacy Online certification seal, you can expect to be notified of:
Exactly what personal information may be collected and by what means
Whether information is collected from children aged 12 and under
Who, if anyone, is collecting your personal information
How this information may be used, including, who - if anyone - it might be shared with
The consequences - if any - resulting from your refusal to provide personal information
How you can access and, if necessary, change the personal information a company maintains
How a company ensures data security, quality, and integrity
Where and how to ask questions or file complaints
If you have any questions, complaints, or comments regarding our privacy statement or policies, please contact the Privacy Policy Administrator for the country in which you reside. Click on the Privacy Policy Administrator link above to review the contact information. If your country is not listed, contact the United StateÆs Privacy Policy Administrator. In the United States, you can also contact ESRB Privacy Online directly at (212) 759-0700 or by regular mail at 845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022.
This privacy policy applies to the following web sites operated by Electronic Arts:
EA.com
EASPORTS.com
EA-Europe.com
owo.com
pogo.com
Simcity.com
thesims.com
Westwood.com
In addition, Electronic Arts owns several other domain names that point to the web sites listed above, and we will from time to time add new sites that may or may not be listed above. Please note that this policy applies only to sites maintained by Electronic Arts or its subsidiaries, and not to web sites maintained by other companies or organizations to which we link.
Third Party Sites
If you click on a link to a third party site, including on an advertisement, a link to America Online (AOL), or an Ad company, you will leave the Electronic Arts site you are visiting and go to the site you selected. Because we cannot control the activities of third parties, including AOL or other service providers, we cannot accept responsibility for any use of your personal information by such third parties, and we cannot guarantee that they will adhere to the same privacy and security practices as Electronic Arts. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any other service provider from whom you request services. If you visit a third party website that is linked to an Electronic Arts site, you should consult that siteÆs privacy policy before providing any personal information.
What personal information is collected?
Personal information is information that identifies you and may be used to contact you on-line or off-line. Electronic Arts only collects personal information from our online visitors on a voluntary basis and only during (1) contests (registration or claiming a prize), (2) warranty registration and/or during customer support or technical service requests, (3) player match up services, (4) registration for games or special game-specific event participation, (5) marketing surveys and email campaigns, (6) registration for membership on our sites, (7) when you order products from us online, or (8) when you request services from third party service providers on our site. Information collected may include your name, e-mail address, phone number, home address and birth date. We do not require personal information to obtain access to any of our sites; however, you will not be able to access areas that require registration.
Whatever the purpose may be, we will only collect information to the extent reasonably necessary to fulfill your requests and our legitimate business objectives.
EA's Online Stores
Visitors purchasing goods and services through one of our online stores may need to provide a valid credit card number and expiration date, in addition to name, mailing address(es), phone number and e-mail address.
Job Postings
Electronic Arts allows for the online submission of resumes. Please note that the information (including personal information) collected from a resume is not subject to this privacy policy. However, we want to assure you that information obtained from your resume will be used solely for the purpose of accepting and evaluating your submission for a job.
Online Chat Rooms and Profiles
You may choose to disclose information about yourself in our online chatrooms or in creating user ôprofilesö when you play games on our sites. Information that you disclose in chat rooms or in ôprofileö information is public information, and there is no expectation of privacy or confidentiality in either place. Please see our Terms of Service on this point and for other guidelines about posting content on our web sites.
A Special Note About Children
Electronic Arts encourages parents to spend time online with their children. We urge parents to instruct their children to never give out their real names, addresses or phone numbers, without permission, when using the Internet. We recognize a special obligation to protect personal information obtained from young children. Therefore, with respect to children residing in certain jurisdictions, no information should be submitted nor posted to Electronic Arts' online sites by children 12 years of age or under. In order for children 12 years old and under in such jurisdictions to participate in online activities that require registration, we require prior written permission or other verifiable consent from a parent or guardian. In other jurisdictions, prior written permission or other verifiable consent may be required from a parent or guardian for children under 14 or 18 years of age. Upon registration, the appropriate permission form will be made available. A copy of our permission form can be found at http://www.ea.com/global/legal/register_child_fax.jsp. This form must be signed by the child's parent or guardian and returned to Electronic Arts by fax or mail to the Privacy Policy Administrator in the relevant country. Children 12 and under may not participate on certain of our sites. In some cases, we may not permit children under 14 or 18 years of age to participate in certain of our sites.
Once we have obtained parental consent, we only ask the child for personally identifiable information that is reasonably necessary for the child to participate in our online activities.
If for any reason you are concerned that your child's personally identifiable information maintained by Electronic Arts is not correct or complete, or should you wish to have your child's name removed from our records, please contact your Privacy Policy Administrator who will be happy to review, update or remove your child's information as appropriate.
What about cookies?
Cookies are small files downloaded to your computer to track movements within web sites. Certain of our sites use cookies to keep track of your shopping cart and make sure you don't see the same ad repeatedly. Also, we use cookies to deliver content specific to your interest and for other purposes. For example, certain of our sites use ôcookiesö or other methods to monitor website usage. We collect information on what games are played, how much time is spent playing the games and which ads or links are clicked. We may link cookie information to personal information.
Certain of our sites use an outside ad company to display ads. These ads may contain cookies. Cookies received with banner ads are collected by our ad companies, and Electronic Arts does not have access to this information. Most browsers are automatically set to accept cookies whenever you visit a website. You can disable cookies or set your browser to alert you when cookies are being sent. However some areas of our sites will not function properly if you do so.
DoubleClick, the company that serves many of the ads that appear on the pogo.com site, may also collect information regarding your activities online, including the sites you visit. Other ad serving companies may also collect similar information. For more information on DoubleClick's services and how you can opt out of those services, please visit DoubleClick's website. For more information about the practices of some of the other large ad serving companies that may collect information on your use of the site, you should visit AdKnowledge, Avenue A and MediaPlex, and Redwood Digital to view their privacy statements and opt out policies.
What happens to the information provided?
Electronic Arts does not disclose any personal information about children under 18 years of age who have registered on any of our websites to third parties, regardless of parental consent, or share or disclose personal information other than as set forth in this policy, provided however, that in the event of a merger, acquisition, or the unlikely event of bankruptcy, management of Electronic ArtsÆ customer information may be transferred to its successor or assign.
If you register to become a member of EA.com (our online games service), and you are 18 years of age or older, your email address is also provided to our partner, America Online, Inc. and you are automatically registered for an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) Account. AOL will email you directly concerning your AIM account. If you register to become a member of pogo.com, your user name is reserved for you on AOL, but your email address is not provided to AOL. As with all third party sites, Electronic Arts does not control AOLÆs privacy policies and practices. We urge you to review AOLÆs privacy policy at www.aol.com.
Members may register for other services from our site(s) (for example, MyPoints on pogo.com). If you opt in to any of these services, we may collect additional information requested by a service provider and pass this information, together with all other registration information (including personal information), to that service provider. Use of your information by a service provider will be governed by that service providerÆs terms of service and privacy policy. We may also retain any additional information collected for use in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. Participation in these other related services is optional and is not required to play games on pogo.com or ea.com, or participate in any of our other web sites.
The personal information you provide will allow us to alert you to new products, features and enhancements; special offers; upgrade opportunities; and contests and events of interest. From time to time, we are approached by companies and organizations that provide products or services that we believe may be of interest to you, and we may provide your personal information to such third parties. We see this as a value-added service helping you to find useful products or services. We strive to limit use of the information you provide to those offers that we think you would appreciate receiving. You may opt out of this service. See the opt out information below.
We may use survey information in marketing surveys to select and direct advertising that is more likely to be of interest to a particular member. This information may be transmitted to an ad server owned by the advertising company (for example, on pogo. com, this is DoubleClick) to match members with ads that they are more likely to be interested in. However, we do not disclose any member's personal information to our advertisers without the member's consent. Participation in member surveys is entirely optional. We may share aggregate consumer data (which does not contain personal information) with the advertising companies.
From time to time, Electronic Arts may employ third-party contractors, such as Digital Impact, to collect personal information on our behalf, or to provide email delivery, product or promotional fulfillment, or other services on our sites. When requesting these services, you may be asked to supply your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address. When our third-party contractors collect and/or have access to the personal information you provide when requesting such services from Electronic Arts, Electronic Arts requires that they adhere to our stated privacy policies and protect the confidentiality of personal information they collect or have access to in the course of their engagement by Electronic Arts.
Finally, we may use your personal information for our internal marketing and demographic studies, so we can consistently improve our sites to better meet our visitors' needs. To enforce legal rights and the law, or when we have reason to believe that a disclosure is necessary to address potential or actual injury or interference with our rights, property, operations, users or others who may be harmed or may suffer loss or damage, we may also disclose personal information to law enforcement, or the appropriate civil authorities.
Where is the information held?
Electronic Arts is a global organization and many of the computer systems on which Electronic Arts collects, stores, and uses the information it collects or receives are based in Australia, Europe, the United States and elsewhere. Your personal information may be transferred to, used, processed or held by Electronic Arts in the United States and in other countries, including countries both in and outside the European Union, and used for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.
Opt-out Provision
When we first collect information about you, we will offer you the opportunity to opt-out of having your personal information shared with parties outside of Electronic Arts or its subsidiaries (except to the extent required by law, court order, or as requested by other government or law enforcement authority). In addition, if you do not want Electronic Arts to send you e-mail or postal mail about our products and services, you can opt out at the time of registration or information collection. If, at a later date, you choose to have your name removed from our mailing list, you can do so by sending an e-mail to the Privacy Policy Administrator in your country, or if your country is not listed, by contacting the Privacy Policy Administrator in the United States. You may also click the unsubscribe link on our email offers and newsletters.
Safeguarding Your Personal Information
We will only collect and use personal information in accordance with this privacy policy to the extent deemed reasonably necessary to serve our legitimate business purposes, and we will maintain appropriate safeguards to ensure the security, integrity, accuracy and privacy of the information you have provided. In addition, we will take reasonable steps to assure that third parties to whom we transfer any personal information will provide sufficient protection of that information.
Review, Correction of Your Information and Requesting Removal from Mailing Lists and Deactivating Your Account
If for any reason you are concerned that the personal information maintained by Electronic Arts is not correct, or should you wish to have your account(s) deactivated or be removed from our mailing list, please email the Privacy Policy Administrator in your country, or if your country is not listed, contact the Privacy Policy Administrator in the United States. We will be happy to review, update or remove information as appropriate. We may still retain your information in our files however, to resolve disputes, enforce our user agreement, and due to technical and legal requirements and constraints related to the security, integrity and operation of our websites.
By using this site, you signify your assent to the Electronic Arts Online Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use any Electronic Arts site. We reserve the right to make changes in this policy at any time. Please check the policy each time you use our web site to ensure you are aware of any changes in our privacy practices. Our privacy policy will indicate the date it was last updated. Also, if there is a substantive change in the way that we use your personal information, we will notify you via e-mail of the relevant changes. If you choose to opt-out of our changed practice, our e-mail will contain instructions on how to opt-out. Your continued use of our site will signify your acceptance of the changes to our Online Privacy Policy.
