Blizzard Entertainment Inc. (referred to herein as "Blizzard"), a US company located at 16215 Alton Parkway,Irvine, CA 92618, United States adhering to the Safe Harbor principles (for more information click here), its parent company and its subsidiary companies, including Blizzard Entertainment SAS in France, respect the privacy rights of their on-line visitors and recognize the importance of providing a secure environment for the information they collect.
It is therefore important to make available to on-line visitors an explanatory document outlining how their personal details are collected, processed and utilized (hereafter the "Privacy Policy"). This Priva-cy Policy explains the ways in which Blizzard safeguards the privacy rights of its on-line visitors. By using this website, you accept this Privacy Policy. Please note that the Blizzard Privacy Policy does not apply when you access other sites via the web links located on Blizzard internet sites, as we have no control over the activities of these other sites. Furthermore, this Privacy Policy may vary from time to time; please consult this document periodically so that you are aware of any changes. The date of the last update indicates the date of the most recent modifications.
This Privacy Policy respects all applicable laws on data protection.
This Privacy Policy applies to the following Internet sites:Blizzard also has other domain names which link to the Internet sites listed above, in which case this Privacy Policy will apply to these Internet sites. Furthermore, we may add Internet sites which may not be listed, but which provide a link to this Privacy Policy and respect the terms within it.
Blizzard only collects personal information in accordance with the applicable laws. An on-line visitor generally submits data to Blizzard for the following purposes: (1) to purchase goods and services from our on-line stores; (2) to register for a product or an account, or to participate in network games; (3) to access personalized services for players; (4) to register a warranty; (5) to enter a competition; (6) to register a complaint; (7) for customer service or technical support; (8) a site visit, (9) use of the forums; and/or (10) eCards and Recruit-a-Friend e-mails.
For the purposes outlined above, Blizzard may require that you submit certain personal information, which may include your name, your street address, your telephone number, your email address, your age and/or your date of birth. We do not require this information if you are just visiting our sites, but you may be unable to access certain areas of the sites or use certain features, such as the forums, without registering, or receive certain materials such as our information bulletins without providing a certain amount of per-sonal information.
Any visitors purchasing products or services will be required to submit additional information, such as a valid credit card number and credit card expiration date. Blizzard has adopted the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The PCI DSS is a multifaceted security standard that includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures. This comprehensive standard is intended to help organizations proactively protect customer account data; particularly with regard to credit card payments (for more information regarding the PCI DSS please click here). We will only collect, store and/or use your credit card data in accordance with the PCI DSS.
Your web browser or your client software will forward to Blizzard geographical information, data con-cerning your computer (e.g. capabilities, game data processing, and browser type,) and data concerning the way you use the products and services (e.g. log in and log out time). Blizzard will use this data to generate aggregate statistics about its user community. In addition, Blizzard will use such information for security, system integrity (the prevention of hacking, cheats, etc.), or enforcement purposes. Please note that the use of your data may differ from product to product and from service to service. Please review the game specific documentation. We will sometimes link this information with your personal information if we feel that the conditions of use have been violated or at the request of the legal authorities.
Blizzard will also ask you to enter a user name and a password. We would ask that you do not use your real name, the name of another person, or a name protected by copyright or trademark as a user name.
If you are a registered user, your information may be stored in Blizzard’s databases to customize the website for you, to provide customized information about Blizzard and its affiliates or third party products for you, as well as for other commercial or publicity purposes.
Cookies are small data files sent to your hard disk from the Internet sites you visit. Any cookies stored on your computer can be used to recall details such as your password or a previous registration or authentication.
Blizzard may use cookies on its Internet sites to keep track of the fact that you signed in, so that you do not have to continually enter your password or your registration details.
Blizzard may use cookies to collect information about the sections of the websites you visit, the products you are interested in, and to track your navigation through its websites.
Most web browsers are set to accept cookies. You can block cookies or set your browser to receive a warning message before any cookies are saved onto your PC. If you would prefer not to have any cookies installed on your hard drive, we recommend that you consult your browser documentation or the help window for more information. Cookies may, however, be necessary for running certain applications on our sites and blocking them may result in your being unable to access certain applications.
An IP address is the number assigned to your server or your computer by your Internet Service Pro-vider ("ISP"). Blizzard may require these IP addresses for account authentication, system administra-tion purposes, or for sending out information collectively. Blizzard may also use IP addresses to limit the use of its servers by any other system in order to avoid any misuse of its servers.
We may sometimes use these IP addresses and associate them with a particular account or user if we feel that the conditions of use have been violated or at the request of the legal authorities.
When you visit a Blizzard site and you are asked to provide information, you only share this informa-tion with Blizzard except where clearly indicated to the contrary. Some services are, however, pro-vided in conjunction with affiliated companies, and for the provision of these services, Blizzard may share your personal information with its affiliated companies, in particular Blizzard Entertainment SAS in France and Blizzard Entertainment Ireland Limited. If a company other than Blizzard receives your personal data, you will be notified before this operation takes place. In any case, the transfer of per-sonal data to another company will only be carried out with your express authorization.
The information you enter on forms on Blizzard’s websites will only be sent to Blizzard once you have clicked the "Send" or the "OK" button. You can halt the transfer of data at any time by quitting the form screen, i.e. by closing your web browser prior to clicking the "Send" or the "OK" buttons; no in-formation will then be sent to Blizzard.
Please bear in mind that message boards and Internet sites linked to our sites could obtain some of your personal information. We would remind you that Blizzard’s Privacy Policy does not apply to these message boards or to these other sites, as we have no control over their activities.
The personal data you submit to Blizzard allows us to process your orders, and provide you with the game, customer, and technical support services, and, if you wish, to inform you of our new products, updates and/or competitions, promotional offers and special events.
With your consent, we can also send your personal information to other companies or organisations who offer products which may be of interest to you.
In addition, you personal information can be displayed within the Real ID feature, should you decide so.
Finally, we can use your personal data to generate internal statistics for marketing, consumer profiles or demographic research, etc. to tailor our products and services to satisfy your requirements. Our aim is to better understand and serve our clients.
Real ID is a voluntary and optional level of identity that keeps you connected across all of Blizzard’s products and services.
Real ID friends can see each other’s real-life name and can see each other’s characters across all Blizzard products and services. By participating in Real ID, you will also be making your real name visible to your friend’s friends, who will also be able to invite you to become friends.
When you and a friend mutually agree to become Real ID friends, you will have access to a number of additional features, including the following:
As a general rule, Blizzard will not forward your information to a third party without your permission. However, we may divulge this data to third party vendors in response to a product order or to add you to a vendor’s commercial bulletin circulation list. In some cases, we can also disclose this information if our License Agreements or Terms of Service have been violated or if, in all good faith, we judge it is legally justified
As with any business, your personal information is also an asset of Blizzard and will become part of our normal business records. As such, in the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bank-ruptcy, or other similar event, your personal information may be transferred to Blizzard ’s successor or assignee.
Certain Blizzard games playable on Blizzard’s Battle.net service feature “Global Play,” which allows you to play with other players who are outside of the region associated with the creation of your Battle.net account. The Global Play feature requires that some or all of the personal information that you provided when you created your Battle.net account be transferred to servers operated by Blizzard in the regions where you wish to play. Your personal information shall be kept safe and under an adequate level of protection within Blizzard and/or its contractor’s facilities.
Blizzard allows you to monitor the way in which we use the personal information we obtain. Any pro-motional materials which Blizzard may send to you (e.g. "newsletters" or "information bulletins") con-tain internal mechanisms that allow you to block future mailings (Opt-out).
You can also contact us if you wish to change the way in which we use your personal information, i.e. whether Blizzard, the parent company or any subsidiary company can send you e-mails or standard mail regarding our products or services.
You can contact us at the following address: Blizzard Entertainment SAS, TSA 60 001, 78008 Versailles Cedex France. You can also reach us by telephone. Please state which services or publications you no longer wish to receive so that we can respond to your needs more effectively.
Blizzard deems it a point of honour that the information you send us should be protected and should remain in its original form, i.e. unaltered. In this respect, access to all private data is strictly monitored. Furthermore, we will do our utmost to ensure that the third parties to whom we may forward this information provide sufficient guaranties of security with regard to this personal information.
If, for any reason, you are concerned about the way in which we collect your personal information, if you wish to access, amend or correct it, or if you want us to delete it from our servers, please contact Blizzard Entertainment SAS, TSA 60 001, 78008 Versailles Cedex, France. You can also contact us by telephone. Please note that the deletion of your data will lead to the termination of your account and applicable services.
If you have any questions or complaints, please write a letter to: Blizzard Entertainment SAS, TSA 60 001, 78008 Versailles Cedex, France.
We feel under a particular obligation to protect information obtained from young children. We would strongly urge parents to instruct their children never to disclose their real name, their address or their telephone number while they are on-line without prior permission. No information should be transmitted to Blizzard by minors aged 12 years or under. Blizzard commits to never knowingly processing data provided by minors aged 12 years or under.
Adolescents aged 13-17 years should ask their parents to read our Privacy Policy and to contact us if they would like any information on our guarantee of confidentiality or to comment on the content.
Minors under 18 years of age should not order or subscribe to any paid service on-line without the permission of their parents or guardians. We would ask parents and guardians to be particularly vigilant and to ensure that their minors do not transgress when using our sites or on-line services.
Visiting the Blizzard Internet sites and using our on-line services indicates your acceptance of Blizzard’s Privacy Policy. If you do not accept this Privacy Policy, please do not visit our Internet sites or use our on-line services.
Visiting the Blizzard Internet sites and using our on-line services indicates your acceptance of Blizzard’s Privacy Policy. If you do not accept this Privacy Policy, please do not visit our Internet sites or use our on-line services.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on July 5, 2010.
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