PlayStation®Network: Privacy Policy

Last Revised: 15 December, 2009

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. ("SCEA") is committed to respecting the privacy rights of all visitors to our websites and of PlayStation®Network ("PSN") users. We also recognize that our visitors, PSN account holders and the parents of children visiting our site and using PSN need protection of any personally identifying information they choose to share with us. This privacy policy is intended to provide you with information on how we collect, use and store the information that you provide to us through our websites and via our PSN services so that you can make appropriate choices for sharing information with us. If you have any questions, complaints or comments regarding our online or offline privacy policies, please contact SCEA's Consumer Services Hotline at 1-800-345-7669.

ESRB
"Go to http://www.esrb.org/confirm/scea-confirmation.jsp to confirm SCEA's participation in the ESRB Privacy Online Program"

This Privacy Statement and the certification seal located to your left confirms that SCEA is a valid licensee and participating member in the Entertainment Software Rating Board's Privacy Online Program: ESRB Privacy Online. To protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible, we have undertaken this privacy initiative and our websites have been reviewed and certified by ESRB Privacy Online to meet established online information collection and use practices. As part of the 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 collection practices that include requirements of full disclosure, notice and informed consent.

Whenever you visit a website that displays the ESRB Privacy Online certification seal, you can expect to be notified of:

    * What personal information may be collected and by what means
    * 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

Websites

We currently operate the websites www.us.playstation.com and www.naughtydog.com. In addition, we own several other domain names that point to www.us.playstation.com. From time to time, we may add new websites not listed above, but will provide a link to this policy or the applicable privacy policy.
Links

This policy applies only to websites maintained by SCEA or our subsidiaries. We may create links to the websites of our promotional partners and licensed software publishers, our affiliates or other entities that we own or control. Although we will make every effort to link only to websites that meet similar standards for maintaining each individual's right to privacy, this privacy policy does not apply to third-party websites. Additionally, other websites not associated with SCEA may have links leading to one of our websites even if we have not authorized those links. We cannot control these links and are not responsible for any content appearing on these websites.
PSN

In parts of North American and South America, SCEA operates PSN, a community of PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system users and a network of online games, other media and content and communication services. Users can purchase network goods and services, including game content and game services, from SCEA through PSN and can participate in network community activities. By using PSN, you assent to the application of this privacy policy to your information that you provide through PSN. If you do not agree to this privacy policy, please do not use PSN.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to make changes to this privacy policy at any time. If we make changes to this privacy policy, we will notify you by posting notice of the change on PSN, on www.us.playstation.com or on our websites. We will post the changes in the privacy policy and, if necessary, give you additional choices regarding changes. Please check this privacy policy from time to time to ensure that you are aware of these changes. Your continued use of our websites, PSN or other SCEA online portals subject to this privacy policy will signify your acceptance of privacy policy changes.
Collection of Personal Information through our Websites and PSN Accounts

We do not require that website visitors reveal any personally identifying information in order to access our websites. However, visitors who do not wish to, or are not allowed by law to share personally identifying information, may not be able to access certain areas of our websites, participate in certain activities or sign up for a PSN account.

Although personally identifying information may be required to participate in certain promotions or features offered through our websites, participants provide this information on a voluntary basis only. Collection of personal information required to access certain website services may include the collection of date of birth, name, mailing address or email address.

Personally identifying information is needed to establish a PSN account. In order to set up a PSN account and access these services, a consumer must provide his or her date of birth, name, mailing address, and email address. A consumer may choose to provide valid credit card information at the time of registration. If a consumer wishes to make a purchase through PSN and would like to pay for that purchase with a credit card, he or she will be required to provide valid credit card information at the time of purchase. In the United States and Canada, if a Master Account holder is giving consent to allow his or her child under the age of 13 to participate on PSN, we require that he or she provide valid credit card information to confirm parental consent. If a parent is setting up a PSN Sub Account for his or her child under 18 years of age (or 21 in Argentina) for whom he or she legally responsible, he or she must provide this information for the child and consent to our use of their personally identifying information in accordance with this privacy policy. For more information on Sub Accounts and Master Accounts, please see the PSN Terms of Service and User Agreement. In addition to the information collected above, when a consumer creates a PSN account, a PSN mailbox for that account is automatically created. The PSN account holder is prompted to select an identifier called the Online ID, which other PSN users may view and is used to send text email messages to the PSN account mailbox. We consider the Online ID personally identifying information for this reason.

For information on our collection policies for children 12 and under, please see the "Policies for Children" section of this privacy policy.

Generally, we require a PSN account in connection with:

    * Participation in online contests, sweepstakes or other promotions
    * Inclusion in our email newsletter program (an account holder must also opt in to receiving marketing materials from us)
    * Participation on our message boards
    * Access to special sections of official game websites

Additionally, we collect personally identifying information in connection with the following:

    * Questions or comments sent through our websites to Consumer Services
    * Repair of, replacement of or service on system hardware
    * Subscription to a non-PSN marketing program
    * "Send-to-a-Friend" emails

Collection of Demographic Information through www.us.playstation.com

From time to time, we will offer consumers the chance to answer questions about their favorite PlayStation® products and other issues. General and demographic information such as gender, game and platform preferences, hobbies and recently purchased products is collected anonymously and is not linked to any personally identifying information through cookies* or other methods without the user's approval. (*To learn more about what "cookies" are and how we may use them, please see the section titled "Cookies" below.)
How We Use Your Information

Personally identifying information that we collect for a particular promotional purpose through one of our websites is saved and used only for that purpose, unless the participant chooses to opt-in to one of the programs discussed below.

Personally identifying information collected through PSN will be saved and only used to administer PSN services, unless a PSN account holder tells us that he or she wants to receive marketing materials from us by opting into one of our marketing programs. PSN services include providing PSN account holders with online gaming services, gaming- and content-related commerce and activity services, in-game advertising and community services and ensuring compliance with the Terms of Service and User Agreement and this privacy policy.

Consumers who voluntarily provide personally identifying information via our website for purposes of receiving marketing materials or who opt-in to receiving marketing materials when they register a Network Adaptor (Ethernet/Modem)(for PlayStation®2 or PlayStation®2 with integrated network and line connectors for online gaming through the Online Start-Up Disc, also become members of our non-PSN marketing program. These consumers receive marketing materials from SCEA, and may be invited to proceed through the registration process to become PSN account holders.

Email addresses collected from consumers during the use of the E-Cards or "Send-to-a-Friend" email feature on our websites are not retained by us, and are only used to send a one-time email notification on a consumer's behalf. SCEA's consumer services department maintains information obtained from consumers who contact or submit an online complaint so that we may assist these customers on current or future service issues. SCEA's consumer services department may collect additional information such as credit card, personal check information if a consumer contacts consumer services to request repair of, exchange of or service on a PlayStation®3 system, PlayStation®2 system, PlayStation® console, PS one® system or PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. Consumer Services uses this information only for payment and payment verification purposes.

When consumers have provided personally identifying information for a particular purpose, we may disclose that information to certain third parties that we have engaged to assist us in fulfilling consumer requests and in maintaining our database records. Third parties engaged in this manner may include fulfillment houses, transaction managers, credit verification services and data management companies. While we have no control over the third party's use of such information, we use reasonable efforts to obtain the third party's agreement to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of any personal information we share with them (or that they collect through our Websites).

SCEA may share information with appropriate third parties, including law enforcement or similar organizations, in connection with a criminal investigation, investigation of fraud, infringement of intellectual property rights or other activity that is suspected to be illegal or may expose our users or SCEA to legal liability. We may use personally identifying information and records for defense of a lawsuit, investigation or other action if that personally identifying information, records or profiles are relevant to the lawsuit, investigation or action.
Business Contacts

For practical reasons, we treat personally identifying information submitted to us in a business capacity different from information we receive in a non-business capacity. We may share resumes or potential developer contact information submitted to us, for example, with other Sony companies or third parties, depending on the nature of the inquiry.

Through our job page at http://www.us.playstation.com/jobs/, SCEA allows job seekers to inquire about jobs and submit personally identifying information in connection with applying for employment. If job seekers inquire about a position and create a profile, we may use the personally identifying information that they provide to contact them about positions that may be of interest, determine whether or not they qualify for a position or process the employment application. If a job seeker creates a job profile, he or she will be asked to provide an email address and create a password. He or she can use that email address and password to access his or her account, review the information in his or her profile, edit and delete his or her profile at any time.
PSN Account Holders

In certain cases, we offer eligible consumers the opportunity to become PSN account holders. Consumers may register for a PSN account through certain websites or through the PlayStation®3 system or the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.

PSN Accounts are free and grant the account holder certain rights on our websites which may include access to restricted areas of our websites, use of our message boards, the opportunity to be a registered user or subscriber of our websites and more. If PSN account holders opt in to receive marketing materials from us, they may also receive discount and promotional offers, game news, special opportunities and other information about PlayStation® products.

We give PSN account holders the opportunity to provide information about themselves on the registration materials, and will from time to time send out surveys or questionnaires for members to provide feedback and additional information.

By logging in as a PSN account holder on any website, PlayStation® system or console, consumers consent to having information regarding their activities added to their PSN profile, whether information regarding those activities come from SCEA internal sources, Sony-related entities or affiliated sources. This information allows us to provide those PSN account holders with information about our products that best suits their interests and to customize their experience.

SCEA operates in parts of North and South America but many of our computer systems are based in the United States. When we process personal data and information and personally identifying information in the United States, we follow United States data protection and privacy regulations, which may not offer the same level of protection as in other parts of the world, such as the European Union. Please be aware that accepting this privacy policy means that you agree with the transfer of your data outside of your country of residence. If a consumer's country of residence is outside the territory where SCEA does business, that consumer will be directed to the Sony Computer Entertainment company that services that country. For example, a consumer from Italy would be directed to our sister company in Europe, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and would not go through the registration process for United States consumers or have data collected by Sony Computer Entertainment America.

PSN provides several ways for PSN account holders to share freely their thoughts and ideas. They can use voice chat or video chat or send text email messages to another account holder's PSN mailbox. Certain games may also provide in-game chat or provide unique means to leave messages for other users. When using these PSN communication tools, PSN account holders must adhere to the Terms of Service and User Agreement as well as any additional terms and conditions that SCEA provides. This privacy policy will apply to any information we collect when account holders utilize PSN communication tools.

We prohibit PSN account holders from disclosing their own personally identifying information other than their own Online IDs. We ask our users to respect the privacy of others. Disclosure of phone numbers, addresses, age or other personally identifying information that may violate someone else's privacy is prohibited. Encouraging or asking users to disclose publicly their personally identifying information is also prohibited. We reserve the right to delete any content that violates these rules or any posted term or condition and reserve the right to ban any user who violates these rules. For details on online communication for children in the United States and Canada under the age of 13, please see the section entitled "Policies for Children".

SCEA may use personally identifying information for marketing and demographic studies. For example, SCEA may use a PSN account holder's Online ID to cross-reference passive information with non-personally identifying information in his or her profile, such as gender or age, in order to develop aggregated information about who uses PSN and how. We may conduct these studies or we may hire a third party to conduct them for us. These studies are for internal purposes only, to help us improve our websites, products and services to better meet our users' needs. We may share non-personally identifying information and behavioral data.
Other Passive Information Collection via PSN

SCEA may collect information such as PSN account holders' system IP address, IP address-related information, system Media Access Control ("MAC") address, network configuration information, network device information, peripheral information, USB device information, plug-in and monitor information, information generated by the PlayStation®3 system and information about how PSN account holders use PSN and PlayStation®3 users use their PlayStation®3 systems, including download activity, browser activity, gaming activities, forum postings, game profile, rankings, features used and presence on Friends list or block list.
In-Game Advertising

Dynamic advertisement serving technology enables advertisements to be temporarily loaded or cached to a PSN account holder's system for display only in games that incorporate this technology. If a PSN account holder plays a game that utilizes this feature, we will log information about his or her system and game play to ensure that advertisements are being appropriately served to him or her and to track information about the advertisements displayed during his or her gaming session. Logged data may include: Online ID, system IP address, system MAC address, in-game advertisement location, the length of time an advertisement was visible, relative size of advertisements, the angle of view and other information related to each advertisement visible during the gaming session. We may use information that we have collected about a PSN account holder through this process to provide him or her with future advertisements that we believe will be of particular interest. Logged data or some portion of it will be shared with third-party companies that operate the advertisement serving technology, and these companies may share aggregated data (meaning data that includes data about a PSN account holder's gaming session but is not specific to him or her) with advertisers and game publishers.
Message Boards

Our website message boards are a place where users can go to freely share their thoughts and ideas about the PlayStation® brand. A PSN account is required to contribute to these message boards. Message board participants must adhere to our website Terms of Use http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/TermsOfUse, as well as any additional posted terms and conditions. Message board moderators enforce these Terms of Use and other applicable rules. Any information we collect in connection with a consumer's participation on our message boards will adhere to this privacy policy. We prohibit PSN account holders from disclosing their own personally identifying information other than their own Online IDs. We ask our users to respect the privacy of others. Disclosure of phone numbers, addresses, age or other personally identifying information that may violate someone else's privacy is prohibited. Encouraging or asking users to disclose publicly their personally identifying information is also prohibited. We reserve the right to delete any content that violates these rules or any posted term or condition and reserve the right to ban any user who violates these rules. Additionally, we reserve the right to ban any user who violates this requirement. For details on online communication for children in the United States and Canada under the age of 13, please see the section entitled "Policies for Children".
Recording and Distribution Functionality

Some PSN features and games include functionality that allows PSN account holders to record and publicly distribute footage of game play, other game-related information or, more generally, their activities on PSN where they interact with other users. If a PSN account holder is playing a multi-player online game that utilizes this feature or is in any area on PSN where other users are present or represented, another user could record and distribute footage of those activities that may include the user's Online ID, Friends list, presence online, messages and gaming or social activities. If PSN account holders want to ensure that their information is not shared by other users in this way, they should not play multi-player online games or enter areas of PSN that include this functionality. PSN also allows PSN account holders to distribute game play, game statistics, PlayStation®Store purchases and other information collected via PSN to our and our affiliates' websites as well, in some cases, third-party websites. PSN account holders' Online ID and trophy information is publically available on www.us.playstation.com. If consumers do not want their trophy information or Online ID made available to others, they should not establish a PSN account.
Information Sharing Policy

PSN account holders have an additional option to "opt-in" to have their information shared with our promotional partners, licensed software publishers, licensed peripheral makers and other licensees ("Our Partners"). This gives us the opportunity to work with partners who will provide PSN account holders with additional material on products that we think they will enjoy.

If, through a PSN account, a PSN account holder accesses content or services that are published or supported by a third party, his or her personally identifying information may be shared with that third party for purposes of game and community administration. By logging in to third-party websites or online services with your PSN account, you confirm that you want us to share your PSN account details in this way. Personally identifying information that we share with a third-party in this manner is subject to that third party's privacy policy. PSN account holders may be given the option to provide the same or additional personally identifying information directly to the third party pursuant to that third-party's privacy policy. Please review carefully all terms and conditions of any third-party privacy policy. We are not responsible for how these companies use your personal information.
California Privacy Rights

Beginning on January 1, 2005, California Civil Code section 1798.83 permits SCEA customers who are California residents to request certain information regarding SCEA's disclosure within the immediately preceding calendar year of that California resident's personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, contact our consumer services department through the following link: http://www.us.playstation.com/Corporate/ConsumerServices or via telephone at 1-800-345-7669. If you would like to change your current account preferences, go to the account management section of your PSN account.
Policies for Children

We encourage parents to take an active role to protect their children's privacy and to prevent inappropriate uses of their children's information. Parents should instruct their children never to provide their real names, ages or any other identifying information on our websites or via PSN without first getting permission. If a child 12 or under attempts to create a PSN account and enters his or her correct date of birth, the registration process will direct that child to provide the email address of a parent who can create an account for that child.

In order for a child in the United States or Canada who is under the age of 13 to participate on PSN, that child's parent or legal guardian must first create a Master Account for himself or herself. The parent or legal guardian must then use the Master Account to create a PSN Sub Account for the child who is under 13. The creation of a PSN Sub Account requires the parent or legal guardian to provide verifiable legal consent to our collection of the child's personal information and to the child's participation on PSN. The parent or guardian must also consent to having the child's personal information shared with SCEA's affiliates and third-parties, such as game publishers who provide online services on or through PSN for the purposes of game, system or service administration.

The parent or legal guardian must provide SCEA with valid credit card information and a valid email address. SCEA then sends to the parent's internet based email address a message with a link to a secure website. The parent completes the remainder of the account registration on the parent's personal computer, providing the child's name, address and email address. The parent also has options to control his or her child's access to content and ability to chat with other PSN account holders.
Transfer of Your Information in the Event of Sale or Acquisition

In the event that SCEA sells its PSN business or has its PSN business acquired, PSN account holders' personally identifying information and other consumers' personally identifying information may be transferred to the purchasing or acquiring entity. Please be aware that accepting this privacy policy means that you also consent the possible transfer of your personally identifying information outside your country of residence.
Cookies

Cookies are bits of electronic information that a website can transfer to a consumer's hard drive to keep records of his or her visit at the website. Cookies allow website operators to better tailor visits to the website to consumer's individual preferences. The use of cookies is standard on the Internet and most major websites use them. We may use cookies to improve consumers' experiences when visiting our websites (and utilizing some PSN services). We may use cookies to track anonymously interest in and collect aggregate information on our websites. Similarly, we keep records of the places PSN account holders have visited on PSN and to keep track of their purchases and activities on PSN.
Log Files

We may use log files to gather statistics about consumers' browsing habits and to assess overall website activity, including how many "hits" a particular web page is getting. These entries are generated anonymously, and enable us to track interest in specific promotions, troubleshoot technical concerns, and provide consumers with content that is most interesting to them. We also use the log file entries for our internal marketing and demographic studies, so we can constantly improve the online services we provide to consumers. Log files are used internally only, and are not associated with any particular user, computer, or browser.
Web Beacons

Our websites use a variety of technical methods for tracking purposes, including Web beacons. Web beacons are small pieces of data that are embedded in images on the pages of websites. We also use these technical methods to analyze the traffic patterns on our websites, such as the frequency with which consumers visit various parts of our websites. These technical methods may involve the transmission of information either directly to us or to another party authorized by us to collect information on our behalf. We also use these technical methods in HTML emails that we send our guests to determine whether our consumers have opened those emails or clicked on links in those emails. The information from use of these technical methods may be collected in a form that is personally identifiable.
Accuracy & Security

We seek to maintain reasonable security measures in order to attempt to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of the personally identifying information under our control. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as perfect security. As a result, although we strive to protect personally identifying information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us through or in connection with our website, PSN or that we store on our systems or that is stored on our service providers' systems.

We strive to take reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the personal information collected from our website visitors. Personal information is stored in secure operating environments that are not available to the public and that are only accessible to authorized employees. In addition, the PSN uses industry-standard encryption to prevent unauthorized electronic access to sensitive financial information such as your credit card number. We also have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. For example, before we allow PSN account holders to access their personal information, we verify their identity by requesting information such as their Sign-in ID and password. In the event of a security breach, we have procedures in place to quickly and effectively protect our consumers' data.

PSN account holders should keep their Sign-in IDs and passwords secret to prevent unauthorized access and use of their PSN accounts. If you are a PSN account holder and have set your "Auto Sign-in" setting to populate your password and Sign-in ID automatically, please make sure you change the setting to [Auto Sign-In Off] before you let anyone else use your PSN account or give your PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system unit to anyone else, including returning the unit to a retailer or to SCEA.
Retention Policy

We will retain personally identifying information about you for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy unless a longer retention period is required by law or regulations.
Contact Us

For further information on our privacy policy, or for questions on information that we may have collected from you, or should you wish to have your PSN account closed, please contact us by either of the following methods and we will be happy to review, update, or change your record status as appropriate:
In the US and Canada
By Phone at:

1-800-345-7669 (800-345-SONY), live rep support M-SAT 6am-8pm PST, SUN 7am-6:30pm PST; auto support 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
By Mail at:

SCEA, Consumer Services Department
P.O. Box 5888
San Mateo, CA
94402-0888
On the Website:

Log into your account and make changes as needed. Here's the link to log in and get you started http://www.us.playstation.com/
In Latin America

Argentina: 011-6770-7669
Chile: 800-261-800; (56)(2)7546333
Colombia: 01-800-550-7000
Mexico: 01800.759.7669
Peru: 0-801-1-7000; (51)(1)511-6100
ESRB

SCEA is a licensee of the ESRB's Privacy Online Program. If you believe that we have not responded to your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, please contact ESRB at http://www.esrb.org/privacy/contact.jsp

ESRB Attn.: Privacy Online Program
317 Madison Avenue, 22nd Floor
New York, NY 10017
privacy@esrb.org

By using this site, you signify your assent to SCEA's privacy policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our websites. We reserve the right to make changes to this policy. If we make a material change to this privacy policy, we will notify you by posting the change on our websites or in this privacy policy and, if necessary, give you additional choices regarding such change. Please check back from time to time to ensure that you are aware of these changes. Your continued use of our sites will signify your acceptance of these changes.