Privacy

Welcome to Ballz.com ('Ballz' or 'we'), the social networking service for all sports that allows Members to connect online through its Ballz.com website (the 'Site'). The services offered by Ballz include the Site and any other features, content, or applications offered from time to time by Ballz in connection with the Site (collectively, the 'Services'). The Services are hosted in the United Kingdom and owned and operated by Ballz.com Ltd.

Ballz cares about your online privacy. Ballz has created this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy, whether you are a 'Visitor' (which means that you simply browse the Site) or you are a 'Member' (which means that you have registered with Ballz on the Site). The term 'User' refers to a Visitor or a Member. This policy sets forth our information collection and use practices only for the Site. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, you may not access or otherwise use the Site. We also direct you to our Terms of Use Agreement (http://www.ballz.com/Terms), which governs your use of the Site.

To facilitate the Ballz Members' experience, we request some personally identifiable information from Members (for example, to create a Member profile) and may display such information to other Members and Visitors, which allows Users to identify each other and expand their networks. Personally identifiable information includes:

  • First name or first and last names of the Member (depending on the options selected by the Member);
  • Location (e.g., city, but not full address);
  • Post code
  • Gender
  • Year of birth to authenticate users
  • Photographs, videos or other shared content uploaded by the Member to his/her profile;
  • Personal information that the Member voluntarily chooses to include; and
  • E-mail address(es) to send sign-up verifications and general notifications to those users relating to the Ballz Services.

Ballz Members can change their profile information at any time through the Member's "Profile" function and can control how Ballz and other Members communicate with them.

In addition and from time to time, Ballz or a partner may sponsor a promotion, sweepstake or contest on Ballz for Members. Users may be asked to provide personal information, including name, e-mail address, mailing address, or to answer questions in order to participate in the promotion. Personally identifiable information will only be collected when it is voluntarily provided to Ballz. You can always choose not to provide certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of or participate in certain features of the Site.

Ballz may also collect non-personally-identifiable information, including the IP address, profile information, aggregate user-data, and browser type, from Users of the Site. This data is used to manage the website, track usage and improve the website services. This non-personally identifiable information may be shared with third parties to provide more relevant services and advertisements to Members. User IP addresses are recorded for security and monitoring purposes.

If a User posts personally identifiable information in areas of the site accessible to other Users, he/she should be aware that such information can be read, collected, or used by other Users of these forums, and could be used improperly to send Users unsolicited messages. If a User has signed up to become a ‘Ballz.com Journalist', he/she should be aware that such information can be read, collected, or used by other Users of these forums as well as the general public, who are not Ballz members, and could be used improperly to send Users unsolicited messages. Ballz is not responsible for the personally identifiable information a User chooses to submit in these forums or for others misuse of such information. Any misuse or improper collection of information provided on Ballz is a violation of the Ballz Terms of Use Agreement (http://www.Ballz.com/Terms) and should be reported to Privacy@Ballz.com.

Ballz recognizes the sensitivity of personally identifiable information concerning children under the age of 16 and therefore provides this notice. Ballz is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations 's or guardian's consent.

The minimum age to participate in Ballz without consent is 16. When Ballz becomes aware that personal information from a child under the age of 16 has been collected without such child's parent's or guardian's consent, we will use all reasonable efforts to delete such information from our database. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at Privacy@Ballz.com

User Profile information, including Members' pictures and first names, are displayed to Members to facilitate interaction in the Ballz social networking community. E-mail addresses are used for the purposes of inviting new friends to join Ballz, to add Users to Members' friends networks, and to send notifications related to the service. With the exception of inviting friends, adding friends, and notifications, a User's e-mail address is not shared or displayed to people within a User's personal network. Members within a personal network communicate on the Site with each other through the Ballz Service, without disclosing their e-mail addresses. Members' full names are never directly revealed to other Members. To facilitate searching and finding friends and acquaintances on the service, Ballz allows Users to search for other Members using first and last name, e-mail address, and schools and/or companies where users may have attended or worked.

Please be aware that whenever a User voluntarily posts public information to Journals, Blogs, Message Boards, Classifieds or any other Public Forum, the information can be accessed by the public and can, in turn, be used by individuals to send unsolicited communications. Ballz bears no responsibility for any action or policies of any third party who collects any information uses may disclose in user forums or public areas, if any, on the Site.

Except as otherwise described in this privacy statement, or where a User is expressly informed otherwise, we do not sell, rent, share, trade or give away any User's personally identifiable information to any third party not affiliated with, a business partner of or a sponsor or Ballz without your express consent, unless: (1) to conform to legal requirements or to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other legal process received by Ballz, whether or not a response is required by applicable law; (2) to enforce the Ballz Terms of Use Agreement or to protect our rights; (3) to the extent required to permit us to investigate suspected fraud, harassment or other violations of any law, rule or regulation; (4) to protect the safety of members of the public and Users of the Ballz Services; or (5) in connection with the sale or merger of Ballz.

However, Ballz may share profile information and aggregate usage information in a non-personally identifiable manner with advertisers and other third parties to improve and enhance your experience on the Site and for other purposes, such as to present to Members and other Users more targeted advertising, products and services. In such situations we will never disclose information that would personally identify a Member.

If a Member elects to use our 'Invite' feature to invite a friend to become a Member of the Ballz community, we will ask the Member to provide us with his or her friend's e-mail address. Ballz will automatically send the friend an e-mail inviting him or her to join the site via our automated invitation system. Ballz stores such e-mail addresses provided by Members so that the friend may be added to the "friends list" of the Member sending the invitations, and also to send reminders of the invitations. Ballz will never sell these e-mail addresses to third parties or use them to send any other communication to the friend besides invitations and invitation reminders. Recipients of invitations from Ballz may contact Ballz at Privacy@Ballz.com to request the removal of their e-mail address from our database.

Ballz uses cookies to store visitors' preferences and to record session information. A cookie is a piece of data stored on the User's computer tied to information about the User. We use both 'session ID cookies' and 'persistent cookies.' We use session ID cookies to confirm that Members are logged in and to make it easier to navigate our site. These cookies terminate once the User closes its web browser. A persistent cookie remains on the hard drive for an extended period of time. Note also that Members may choose to use a cookie to remember their e-mail to automatically log in to the Site. Each web browser is different, but a User can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in the Internet browser's 'help' file; however, please note that, if a User rejects cookies or disable cookies in his/her web browser, some features of Ballz may not work.

We do not and will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information from any User of the Site not intentionally submitted to us, other than as stated in this Privacy Policy. Please note that Ballz may allow third party advertisers that are presenting advertisements on a portion of the Site to set and access their cookies on a User's computer. Advertisers' use of cookies is subject to their own privacy policies, not the Ballz Privacy Policy.

In addition to cookies, the Site uses 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. Ballz also uses these technical methods to analyze the traffic patterns on the Site, such as the frequency with which Users visit various portions of the Site.

Ballz contains links to other websites not maintained by Ballz, and other websites may reference or link to the Site. These include links that are placed by Ballz (such as in advertisements), as well as links placed by Ballz Members. These other websites may set their own cookies, collect data, solicit personally identifiable information and/or have their own privacy policies. Please be aware that Ballz is not responsible for the privacy policies, content and/or practices of other websites, expressly disclaims any statements or assertions made on such websites and denies all liability associated with your use of, and the content on, other such sites. We encourage all Users of the Site to be aware when you leave our website and to read the privacy policies and terms and conditions of use for each and every website you visit. Our privacy policy only governs information collected on the Site on in connection with the Ballz Services.

Members may modify or remove any of their personal information at any time by logging into their account. Access and control over most personal information on Ballz is readily available through the profile editing tools. Ballz will update the information within a reasonable time after receipt. Members who wish to deactivate their Ballz account may do so. Removed information may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time but will not be generally available to Members of Ballz.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Ballz is not obligated to remove any information or communication a User provides to other Users of the Site (e.g., posting on someone else's profile, blog or message board) through the communication features of the Site.

If you wish for us to remove your personally identifiable information from our active records, please contact us at Privacy@Ballz.com. Members who no longer wish to receive updates or notifications may choose to opt-out from receiving such information in their user profile Account Settings. All notification e-mails and Ballz newsletters also include the above instructions for opting-out of those communications in the future.

Please be aware that we will process your request within a reasonable time after receipt. You should also be aware that Ballz is not responsible for removing your personally identifiable information from the lists of any third party who has previously been provided with your information in accordance with this policy, such as a business partner. In addition, your ability to opt-out from receiving marketing or promotional material does not change Ballz's right to contact you regarding your use of the Site or changes to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use Agreement (http://www.Ballz.com/Terms) or other policy or terms that affect you and your use of the Site.

Advertisements appearing on the Site may be delivered to Users by Ballz or one of our Web advertising partners. Our Web advertising partners may set cookies, collect data, solicit personally identifiable information and/or have their own privacy policies. Ballz does not have access to or control of the cookies that may be placed by the third party advertisers. Third party advertisers have no access to a User's contact information stored on Ballz unless the User chooses to share it with them. This privacy statement covers the use of cookies or other tracking technologies by Ballz and does not cover the use of cookies by any of Ballz's Web advertising partners. Ballz is not responsible for the practices of its Web advertising partners and denies all liability associated therewith. Security Member accounts are secured by member-created passwords. Ballz takes every precaution to protect the information of the Members, as well as information collected from other Users of the Site to ensure that member account information is kept private. Your member account information is located on a secured server behind a firewall. We use reasonable measures to protect member information that is stored within our database, and we restrict access to member information to those employees who need access to perform their job functions, such as our customer service personnel and technical staff. Please note that due to the inherent open nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that communications between you and Ballz or information stored on the Site or our server(s) will be completely free from unauthorized access by third parties (such as hackers), and your use of the Site is at your own risk. Ballz also recommends that you keep your information safe by, for example, memorizing your password or securing it in a safe place (separate from your account information), logging out of your account, and closing your web browser once you leave the Site. If there are any questions about the security of Ballz Web Site or for any additional information about the security measures we use on Ballz, please contact us at Privacy@Ballz.com. Changes in Our Privacy Policy From time to time we may make changes to our privacy policy, and we reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use at any time without notice to you. We will post any changes here, so be sure to visit this page often. In addition, if we plan to use your personally identifiable information in a way that is different from this policy, we will post such changes here and provide you with the opportunity to opt-out of such differing uses. Your continued use of the Site after we post any changes to this Privacy Policy means you accept such changes. Contacting Ballz If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, please contact us at Privacy@Ballz.com. Effective Date This Privacy Policy is in effect and was last updated on 1st Feb November 2008 Copyright © 2008 Ballz.com Ltd. All rights reserved.