Nick.co.uk Privacy Policy

Nick.co.uk (“Site”) is the place in cyberspace where fans of Nickelodeon UK can come to find out more about their favourite Nick stars, play games and have their opinions heard. Nickelodeon UK believes in the power of kids and we urge both them and their parents to use and enjoy our Site. Whilst we encourage the interactive nature of online media, we strive to educate parents and kids about how to appropriately safeguard their privacy when travelling on the web. Our information collection practices are described below. We urge kids to check with their parents before entering any information on any website and we urge parents to discuss with their kids restrictions regarding the online release of personal information to anyone they don't know.

What Information Is Collected?

At Nickelodeon UK, it is our policy to create website content which requires minimum collection of information from our visitors. Generally, Nickelodeon UK limits collection of information to what is known as non-personally identifiable information (e.g. first name, age, birthday, gender, city or town). This information is collected so kids can participate in activities without giving out unnecessary personal information. Where we need extra information, e.g. kids'/parents' email addresses, telephone numbers (as explained below) to run competitions or to offer extra on-line activities, we let kids know the reason for which we are collecting the information and what we will do with it. We do not as a condition to a kid's participation in any of our on-line activity require the disclosure of more information than is reasonably necessary.
The data controller for the purposes of UK data protection legislation is Nickelodeon UK (“we” or “us” or “our”). The ways we collect user’s (“you” or “your” or “user”) personal information and how we use it on the Site are as follows:

1. Registration
The main way we collect personally identifiable information is through our registration process. In order to take part in our registered member activities, we ask kids to submit personal information such as full name, email address, postcode and birthday and we ask each kid if they wish to opt-in to receiving emails from us as part of our activities for registered members e.g. our newsletter. We remind them to ask a parent/guardian for permission first. The information is used to allow kids to take part in registered member activities such as message boards, newsletters, any special member competitions and send postcards. Registered kids can unsubscribe at any time. To unsubscribe, please contact us at the following email address: standards@nick.co.uk .
All such personal information collected during the registration process is used only for the purpose of providing kids with access to our registered member activities. It is not currently our policy to use such information for general marketing purposes or to share such information with third parties (except in relation to competitions as set out below or where we are required to do so by law or in the context of a business transfer). Should our policy on this change, we will let you know and give you the choice to be included.
We do not obtain or require disclosure of sensitive personal data (such as ethnic origin or religion) but if you choose to provide us with such sensitive personal data, we may assume such sensitive personal data is provided with your express consent for processing by us for the purposes for which such personal data was provided by you unless otherwise notified by you to us in writing at the following email address: standards@nick.co.uk .

2. Competitions
We offer the opportunity to all kids to enter competitions on-line. In order to run competitions and send out prizes, it is necessary to collect some personally identifiable information from kids. This can include name, address and telephone number. As a matter of policy, we keep such information only for the purposes of administering the competition and do not disclose such information to third parties except where necessary to fulfill the prizes (e.g. it may be shared with fulfillment houses for processing purposes). We may from time to time offer competitions sponsored by third party businesses and may share entrant information with such businesses in order to fulfill the competition only. We will provide potential entrants with the opportunity to opt-in to such third party sponsored competitions. Once a competition is finished, we will delete any personal information collected via on-line entry forms from our systems and it is not kept for any longer than is necessary.

3. Electronic Postcards
We may give kids the option to send "electronic postcards" to their friends. We do not collect our visitors' full names, but we do collect email addresses during this process in order to inform the user that their postcard has been read. We also ask users to submit their friends' email addresses so we can send them these e-cards. We think it would be disproportionate to inform user’s friend(s) about our privacy policy and how we will be using their personal data beforehand because it would spoil the surprise of receiving the friend’s electronic postcard. However, we can reassure users that this data is not transferred to a third party or used for marketing purposes and it is not kept for any longer than is necessary.

4. Feedback
We provide kids with the opportunity to email us with their opinions and comments. We request no personally identifiable information unless the kid indicates that he or she wants us to reply. In these circumstances, we ask for a first name and email address. This information is used solely by us in order to give requested feedback and is then deleted from our system periodically.

5. Cookies and Log Data
Cookies are information files that your web browser places on the hard drive of your computer when you visit certain websites. We are able to access only the cookies that our Site places on your computer and we are only able to determine the type of computer operating system and browser that you are using. Cookies cannot damage user files, nor can they read information from a user's hard drive. Cookies allow websites to "remember" users activities on a website as well as users visits to a website. At Nick.co.uk, cookies are used to determine the number of unique visitors to our Site over a given period. We do not store any personal information in the cookies nor do we link or combine information collected through cookies to any personal information submitted by users when participating in our activities. We collect this information in order to improve access to our content based on our visitors' browsers and operating system types to make our content available to as many kids as possible. You can, of course, disable cookies on your computer by indicating this in the preferences or options menus in your browser.
Log data collected on web servers within our control also supplies us with non-personally identifiable information about the number of visits to different pages on our Site. We use this information only for improving our Site. We do not link the "log data" collected to personally identifiable information submitted by users when participating in our activities.
The information collected through cookies and log data may be passed to our Research Department or to third party advertisers or business partners.
If you do not wish us to use cookies for the purposes explained above, please inform us in writing at the following email address: standards@nick.co.uk .

6. Transfer of Personal Data
We may also transfer your personal data collected to any country, including countries outside the European Economic Area, for any of the purposes described above. Your provision of personal data to us through use of this Site is understood by us to constitute consent to such transfer unless you inform us of your wish not to transfer your personal data in this manner at the following email address: standards@nick.co.uk .

7. Monitoring of Communications
We may record or monitor your telephone conversations and email correspondence with our staff for security, compliance with the law, training purposes and to maintain and improve the quality of our services.

8. Security
We have taken steps to ensure that all personally identifiable information that we collect is secure, including limiting the number of people who have physical access to our database servers as well as electronic security systems and password protections, which guard against unauthorised access.

9. Agents
The personally identifiable information provided to Nick.co.uk may be transferred, disclosed or shared with third parties who may be engaged by us as data processors to specifically to handle and deliver certain activities (e.g. message boards, competitions, e-cards, newsletters, advisory board, communities) and perform other technical and processing functions, such as sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from registration lists, programming, providing services to our users, or otherwise operating our Site. They have access to personal information needed to perform their processing functions, but may not use it for other purposes.

10. Third party websites
We provide a "bumper page" when linking from our Site to an advertiser's site, which lets kids know they are going to an advertiser's site and reminds them not to give out information online without getting permission from their parents. Kids and their parents should be aware that other sites have different policies on collection of information to us, so it is important to check their Privacy Policies before submitting any personally identifiable information.

11. Business Transfers
In the event that all or substantially all of our assets are transferred or sold to another business, you agree that we may transfer any of your personally identifiable information to the acquiring business.

12. Questions/Concerns?
If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our privacy policy and/or practices, please contact us at the following email address: standards@nick.co.uk .

Alternatively you can write to:
Standards and Practices
Interactive Department
Nickelodeon UK
15-18 Rathbone Place
LONDON
W1T 1HU

PLEASE NOTE: This privacy policy was updated on 12 March 2003.