quote:
Originally posted by Chrissy
On the other hand, it says, if they want they can send us emails related to our interests to 'advertise' their products. If no information is collected why would the terms say we may give your details to XYZ?
That's a good point. Neither plusnetwork.com or plusfun.com can collect emailaddresses as far as I can see, except from the third parties they link to from those sites, but those have their own policies anyway.
The policy doesn't mention how (or even if) emailaddresses are collected. These policies tend to be written by legal people who like to cover every aspect even if they aren't directly relevant to the current situation. In the sense of "
if we would be collecting emailaddresses we will use them newsletters and other related matters". Also
how emailaddresses would be collected is the important part, and unfortunately not mentioned. As long as it is done in an opt-in way with a method to opt-out afterwards it is perfectly fine. For example a form people can optionally fill in to subscribe to a Messenger Plus! Newsletter so they can receive news about new versions is legally a way of collecting emailadresses. Collecting user's emailaddresses without their explicit permission is something completely different and depending on how you do it illegal in several countries.
The license agreement when installing the Messenger Plus! software does refer to
http://www.plusnetwork.com/privacy.php so you could interpreted it as that policy being valid for the Messenger Plus! software too (as well as for plusnetwork.com or plusfun.com). That would explain why it mentions "contact details". But I know the Plus! software isn't collecting any email addresses either. Usage statistics for Plus! are sent as unidentifiable number. Think of it as an MD5 hash on your emailaddress. It's not actually MD5, but irreversible nonetheless.
quote:
Originally posted by Chrissy
there must be more information than just that collected as you are playing with millions of Plus! users. How can they be identified?
Than just what? Haven't checked, but I assume PlusGames is using some kind of non-personal session ID stored in a cookie if you're playing as guest. When you decide to register it's either email address or Facebook Connect. But don't confuse plusnetwork.com/plusfun.com with PlusGames.
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