Chatlands™ Statement of Privacy

Chatlands Chat

	Information Collected: Chatlands™ collects e-mail addresses from all of its registered users. There is a downside to being anonymous. By being anonymous, there is no way to tell you are who you say you are. If an anonymous user loses his or her password, for instance, we can't give them a new one. There is, after all, no way for us to know they are who they say they are and not just someone trying to steal a password. Chatlands™ provides fields for users to post their names or other contact information. This is purely optional and no one has to fill these fields out. We ask our younger users to please leave these fields blank. We may also use cookies and track IP addresses to help distinguish one user from another. This is used to ferret out troublemakers, not to keep track of what the rule-abiding users are doing. We log conversations and significant actions (such as kicks and bans) in our ongoing efforts to provide a harmonious chat environment. These logs are kept private. They are not shared with any other company.
	Access to Collected Information: All information collected by Chatlands™ (such as logs and IP addresses) is held in strict confidence. All voluntarily entered information (such as real names) is not. If you do not want this known, do not fill it out. Your e-mail address will be hidden by default and only shared if you un-click the "hide e-mail address" checkbox. Socket connections are always made directly to the server and your IP address is never sent to other chatters. Your password is one-way encrypted, and the conversation logs are kept in a directory that cannot be accessed with a browser. Potentially harmful or privacy invading packets are filtered by our server. Your private information such as logs can only be accessed by the chat's alphas, and IP addresses can only be accessed by the chat's alphas and betas. Extracts from these logs are discussed when necessary in the admins only forum. This information is never sold to a third party.
	Information Control: You may update your personal information by clicking 'info' from within the chat or by clicking "my info" from the map page. You may use the info editor to change your options, such as whether your e-mail address is hidden or shown. The default is always hidden.
	Although Chatlands™ does not transmit information on encrypted channels, we have taken many steps to bullet-proof our server against spoofing that could result in the exposure of your personal information. To keep our security precautions effective, we need your help. Be sure you choose a hard to guess password to protect your account. Do not share this password with anyone, ever. Doing so undermines most of the precautions we have taken.
	We use an extra layer of security for certain types of transactions, when the "stakes are higher". For instance, if you try to cancel your account, or transfer deltas from one account to another, or change your primary e-mail address, first we send you a confirmation e-mail, in order to verify this transaction. That e-mail has a link in it that you click on to verify the action.
	Chatlands™ sends e-mail to its users to verify the ownership of the account. By keeping a valid e-mail address in our database, we can protect your account from theft. This address is never shared with third parties, and we will make every effort not to use this address unless we feel it is absolutely necessary. We will not "spam" you. Any participation in a mailing list will be at your request. If you do participate in a mailing list, you will be able to discontinue participation at any time.
	Changes to this Policy: If there are any changes made to this policy, we will post a notice on the website to bring it to our users' attention.