PlayStation®Network: Privacy Policy
PlayStation® Network Europe Limited will collect personal information about you when you access or use PlayStation®Network (PSN), including the PlayStation®Store, online gaming and virtual communities. This Privacy Policy tells you how we will use this information and how you can contact us about this.
1. Creating a PSN Account
There are two types of PSN accounts: Master Accounts and Sub Accounts. For more information about this, please see our Terms of Service and User Agreement. When we use the term "you" in this Privacy Policy, we are referring to the PSN user.
When you register a Master Account with PSN, we collect information from you, such as your name, email address, postal address, date of birth, gender, language, password and any parental control options. We may also ask you to complete market research surveys. If you create any Sub Accounts, we will collect information from you about the Sub Account holders. You must obtain the consent of the Sub Account holder to provide this information and for us to store and use their personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
2. Your Online ID
When you register a Master or Sub Account, you choose an Online ID. Your Online ID is your public nickname while you are in PSN and is available to all PSN users. Your Online ID will be displayed while you are playing games online or chatting with other users. Other users, such as people whom you meet or play online, can use your Online ID to send you messages or chat. If you accept other users as your "Friends" in PSN, they can check what you are doing within PSN at any time. Your Online ID, "About Me" statement, avatar, language, country and gaming statistics may be displayed in-game or on websites related to the game. Your online activity, including your Online ID and public statements, may be recorded and distributed outside PSN by us, or by other users without your knowledge. We recommend that you don't include any information which could be used to identify you in your Online ID or other public statements.
3. Using PSN
Each time you sign in to PSN, we will collect information automatically without further notice to you, for example:
- your Online ID
- your IP address and console MAC address (the unique numbers which identify the network and device you are using) and date and time of sign in;
- information about the hardware you are using and how you have used it, such as model and serial number, parental control settings, photograph and music settings, remote play settings, information about devices connected to the hardware, how many items are stored on the hardware or have been used with the hardware and other related information;
- how you use PSN, for example, what games you play, what content you browse or download, what services you access and for how long, including how often you use chat, message boards or other communication services;
- your gamer profile, game matching, uploaded scores and rankings, your Friends and block lists and your appearance on other user's Friends or block lists.
If you buy funds for your PSN wallet or make any other payments via PSN, you must provide your payment details, such as credit card numbers, cardholder name, commencement and expiry date, and security codes, in order to process your payment. Credit card details will be stored for future purchases, unless you remove them from your account via your PSN Account Management area. We will keep a record of your payments into your PSN wallet and the purchases you make via PSN.
4. What do we do with your information?
We use your personal information to operate PSN and to provide the products and services you ask for, including online gaming, community features, communications, downloads, subscriptions, beta trials, promotions, in-game advertising and competitions. We may retain, use and disclose your personal information, subject to applicable laws, to:
- maintain your account (including ensuring the accuracy of the billing on your account)
- deal with your customer service requests
- confirm your PSN account details and any transactions on your account and give you information about PSN (for example, if you lose your password or if changes are made to the PSN Terms of Service and User Agreement or this Policy)
- carry out research and analysis to improve our products and services, for example via crash reports
- process your purchases and carry out credit checks; we will provide your payment details to banks and to other relevant third parties in order to complete your purchase and obtain payment
- keep records of transactions for our internal records and for internal auditing, accounting, compliance and legal purposes
- market and promote new products and services to you, both within PSN and, if you choose, by email and other direct marketing (see Clause 9 below for information about opting out). This may include using your personal information to identify products, services and promotions which we believe will be of particular interest to you
- enforce the PSN Terms of Service and User Agreement and any rules or codes of conduct applying to your use of PSN.
5. Who else has access to your information
Your information will be available to other Sony Computer Entertainment companies, and to companies who help to operate PSN and to process your payments for us (for example, companies who support our IT systems, carry out credit checks and monitor communications). They will comply with this Privacy Policy and we will be responsible for their use of your information.
You may also be invited to use your PSN account details to log in to online game features, online services and websites offered by other companies who are not part of the Sony Computer Entertainment group, such as third party game publishers, social networking and game consolidation sites. If you use your PSN account to access these services, we will share your account details with those companies, so that they can operate these services, conduct their own research and analysis on these services and they may also market their products and services to you in accordance with applicable law. For example, we will share gameplay information and your parental control options with the publishers of games which you play online. We are not responsible for how these companies use or publish your personal information. They may have their own privacy policies governing how they will use your information, which we encourage you to access and read before using any service supported by them. By using your PSN account details to log in to third party websites or online services, you confirm that you want us to share your account details in this way.
You should always take great care before providing your PSN account details to a third party as some sites may use your details to access your PSN account without your consent or for other fraudulent purposes.
Your information may be available to third parties during negotiations for a transfer of all or part of our business and may be transferred by us as part of that business. We may retain, use and/or disclose any of your information as required or permitted by law, regulation or order, including to the police or other appropriate authorities, to investigate complaints made by or against you, or to protect or defend ourselves, or others, against illegal, criminal or harmful activities.
6. Transfer of your information outside Europe
As PSN is a global service, your information will be processed, stored and transferred for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), such as the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. It will be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers and may be seen by other users in those countries. Data protection laws in these countries may not offer the same level of protection as in the EEA and you may have fewer legal rights in relation to your information. If you are not happy for this transfer to take place, you should not access and use PSN.
7. In Game Advertising
Some games incorporate dynamic advertisement serving technology which enables advertising to be temporarily uploaded into the game on your console and replaced while you are online. If you play these games, we will log information from your console to ensure that the appropriate advertising is presented at the right location within the game and to calculate the number of unique and repeat views of advertising. Logged data may include IP address and console MAC address, in game location, length of time an advert was visible, size of the advert and angle of view. We may use information which we have about you to present adverts which we believe will be of particular interest to you. Logged data will be shared with third party companies who operate the advertisement serving technology.
8. Monitoring of Communications
We cannot monitor the whole of PSN and make no commitment to do so. However, we reserve the right in our sole discretion to monitor and record your online activity and communication throughout PSN and to remove any content from PSN at our sole discretion, without further notice to you. Any information collected in this way, including the content of your voice and text communications, the time and location of your activities, and your Online ID and IP address, may be used by us to enforce the PSN Terms of Service, to comply with the law and to protect our rights and those of our licensors and users, and the personal safety of our employees and users. This information may be passed to the police or other appropriate authorities. By accepting this Privacy Policy or the PSN Terms of Service, you expressly consent to this.
9. Changing Details and Unsubscribe
If you want to change or update your details, you can do so via your PSN Account Management area. If you want to opt-out of receiving marketing information and advertising, you can also do so via your PSN Account Management area or by switching off the relevant feature. We will aim to process your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event, within 28 days.
10. Cookies
We use cookies to store specific information about you and to track your access to and use of PSN, and to operate PSN, including recognising your country/language selection for PlayStation®Store. Cookies are small text files automatically sent by us to your system, stored on your system and then sent back to us by your system each time that you access and use PSN. By accepting the PSN Terms of Service and User Agreement and this Privacy Policy, you consent to our use of cookies for this purpose.
11. Security
We will take appropriate technical and organisational steps to prevent unauthorised access to or disclosure of your information. However, we do not guarantee that we will eliminate all risk of misuse of your personal information. You are responsible for keeping your password secret to prevent unauthorised access to and use of your PSN account and any payment details which you have saved for your account. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. Remember to turn "Save Password" off before letting anyone else use your PSN account or giving your PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) or PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system unit to anyone else, including for return to a shop or for repair.
12. Children
You must be 18 to hold a Master Account on PSN. Children under 18 may only hold Sub Accounts associated to a Master Account held by their parent or legal guardian. Depending upon the age of the child and local laws, we may email the parent or guardian of any child registered on PSN in order to confirm the parent or guardian's consent to registration and to use of their child's personal information as explained in this Privacy Policy.
13. Your Rights
You have the right to know what information we hold about you and how that information is used. If you would like to know what information we currently hold about you, please contact customer services via the contact details on the About Us page or write to Data Protection Officer, PlayStation Network Europe Limited, 10 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7LP, United Kingdom. Where you require access to information we hold about you, we will require you to put your request in writing and provide proof of identity and you may be charged a small administration fee, subject to applicable laws.
14. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. To access a printable, current copy of this Privacy Policy, go to http://network.eu.playstation.com/legal on your PC. Please check regularly to ensure that you are aware of any changes.
You will be notified of material changes by a posting as you sign in to PSN or by email to your current email address as registered on PSN. Your continued use of PSN (via a Master Account or Sub Account) after any changes signifies your acceptance of these changes. If you do not accept material changes to this Privacy Policy you must stop using PSN. If you are a Master Account Holder and there are funds remaining in your wallet, you must contact us and we will close your account (and any associated Sub Accounts) and refund any unused wallet funds. You will not be able to access PSN.
Version 4.2 (19 November 2009)