B*tween Productions Privacy Policy

B*tween Productions, Inc.™ is committed to protecting your online privacy and the safety of all of our website users. Our website, located at www.beaconstreetgirls.com and beta.beaconstreetgirls.com, is the place in cyberspace where fans of the Beacon Street Girls can come to find out more about their favorite Beacon Street Girls™, play games, decorate and personalize a locker, collect, display and share virtual goods, and have their opinions published. (Hereafter, BeaconStreetGirls.com and "the site" refers to either or both beaconstreetgirls.com and beta.beaconstreetgirls.com.)

B*tween Productions, Inc. Online Privacy Policy
At beaconstreetgirls.com, we believe in the power of children and we urge both children and their parents to use and enjoy our website. While we encourage the interactive nature of online media, we hope to educate children and parents on safeguarding your privacy when using the Internet. As such, we want you to check with your parents before entering information on this or any other website. Our information collection practices are described below.

What Information Is Collected?
It's our policy to create website content that requires minimum collection of information from our visitors. Generally, we limit our collection of information from children to what is known as non-personally identifiable information (e.g. screen name and birthdate). This information is collected so children can participate in activities (e.g. post messages, create a personalized locker, play online games) without giving unnecessary personal information. From time to time, however, we may request limited personally identifiable information (e.g. child's email address and/or email address of parent or guardian), as explained below, in order to conduct online contests or sweepstakes or offer other online activities (e.g. electronic postcards, videos, e-newsletters). We do not condition a child's participation in any of our online activities on the disclosure of more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in the activity. B*tween Productions does allow girls to post some non-personally identifiable information such as age, state, country, hobbies and interests that allow us to generate a personal page (and decorated locker.) Children make choices from predefined menus and anywhere they are allowed to provide information via "freetext" it is reviewed by one of our trained monitors before it is published to the site. We provide girls with guidelines for posting and only posts that follow all the site's rules are published on the site.

Here is a list that includes (but is not limited to) what is considered inappropriate on our site:

1. First and last names
2. Mailing addresses
3. Cities
4. Zip codes
5. Phone numbers
6. School and teacher names
7. Local sports teams and clubs names
8. Screen names on other sites
9. Email addresses
10. Bad language (curse words and hurtful words)
11. Topics any reasonable adult would consider inappropriate for girls ages 9 to 13
12. Disrespectful language (rude comments directed at other members) and exclusionary tactics

The following practices are prohibited and may result in a user being banned from posting on beaconstreetgirls.com:

1. Impersonating the Beacon Street Girls characters, celebrities, and other persons, real or made-up
2. Profanity or vulgarity of any kind
3. Copying other comments to publish as your own
4. Plagiarizing content written by other people (including songs, poems, stories, etc.)
5. Excessive use of capitals letters when typing (shouting)


Use of Information
At beaconstreetgirls.com we use or may use personally identifiable information that children provide for such purposes as sending requested electronic postcards, email messages and videos on their behalf, and conducting contests or sweepstakes, and responding to their questions regarding our products and services. Other than as described below under "Parental Access and Certain Disclosures", we currently do not disclose to third parties personally identifiable information that children provide, except from time to time, we may transfer, disclose or share such information with third parties who may be engaged by us specifically to handle and deliver certain online activities (e.g. conducting contests and sweepstakes). Such third parties have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes. Additionally, in the event that all or substantially all of our assets are acquired by another entity, personally identifiable information submitted to us may be transferred to the acquiring entity. Finally, we may also disclose personally identifiable information to third parties in order to comply with the law or requests by law enforcement agencies, to enforce our Web Site Terms and Conditions and protect the rights, property or safety of our website, users of our website and others.

Electronic Newsletter Subscription
We offer children the opportunity to sign up to receive the Beacon Street Girls newsletter by email, (e.g. joining "Club BSG" or registering for a Club BSG locker.) When a child asks to receive our email newsletter, the child is asked to provide his or her email address, the email address of his or her parent, a user name and a password, which is then encrypted. If the child is under 13, we send the child's parent a notification email informing the parent of the child's request to receive by email the Beacon Street Girls newsletter on an ongoing basis and give the parent the option to have his or her child's information removed from our Beacon Street Girls newsletter database. At any time after receiving this notification email, the child's parent has the opportunity to exercise the option to request that we stop sending the child the Beacon Street Girls newsletter and have the child's information removed from our Beacon Street Girls newsletter database by following the "unsubscribe" instructions found in either their initial notification email or at the end of any of the Beacon Street Girls newsletter emails.  (Unsubscribing from the newsletter will result in the child's information being removed from the online Club as well and their locker being deleted. In addition, parents may at any time review any identifiable information collected about their child (see Parental Access and Certain Disclosures below).

Information collected for the Beacon Street Girls newsletters (the child's email address) is used to send the child the Club BSG electronic newsletter, any system messages and updates that they sign up for when they register, provide lost passwords and user names, and may be transferred, disclosed, or shared with third parties (today, only Constant Contact, Inc.) who may be engaged by us specifically to handle the preparation and delivery of the electronic newsletter and perform other related technical and processing functions. These third parties may not use it for other purposes and have agreed to maintain the confidentiality of such information. In addition, joining Club BSG allows the child to build and decorate a personalized locker, post comments, questions, book and film reviews, as well as enter some of our contests.  All comments are reviewed before they are published to the site and no personal information is allowed.

Contests and Sweepstakes

Occasionally we may offer contests and sweepstakes which may be entered online. Most of our contests are open to Club BSG members (who have provided us with their email addresses (and the email address of a parent.)  To participate in a one-time contest or sweepstakes, a child is asked to provide his or her email address and the child's parent email. In these contests or sweepstakes, we give the parent the option to have the child's entry deleted. All the information we collect is securely maintained and used only for the purpose of conducting the contest or sweepstakes. Once the one-time contest or sweepstakes is finished, we then delete any personal information collected. Information collected in a contest or sweepstakes may be passed to a fulfillment house which may use the information to help run the contest or sweepstakes and may not use it for other purposes and has agreed to maintain the confidentiality of such information.

Electronic Postcards, Videos and Email Messages
We provide children the opportunity to send electronic postcards, play online games or create videos featuring Beacon Street Girls characters or original artwork and videos and send them to family or friends. We may also feature information about products that children are interested in and from time to time may send, on behalf of children who request it, email messages to family and/or friends to let family and/or friends share their interest. We ask only for a first name, but we do not require children to submit personally identifiable information about themselves in order to send an electronic postcardr wish list request or for beaconstreetgirls.com to send email messages to family or friends. We do, however, ask children to submit the email address of the recipient of such electronic postcards or email messages. We may also provide the opportunity to send e-mail or post comments to the Beacon Street Girls through our website. We ask only for first names or user names (created by the child for their use on our site), but we request no personally identifiable information except an e-mail address, which we use only for the purpose of responding to messages and/or requests, and then delete.

All information collected for electronic postcards, wish list emails, video and email messages is used only to send the requested electronic postcard, video or email message and to respond to email questions and/or requests and is deleted from our system once the electronic postcard, video, email message or email response is sent.

Information Received from the Beacon Street Girls Shop
The website for the Beacon Street Girls Shop, BSGShop.com (the "Shop") which is hosted and operated by a third party, and is independent and separate from beaconstreetgirls.com, collects personal information about its users, and shares and transfers such information with us. We use the personal information we receive internally within B*tween Productions, Inc. but we do not sell, transfer or share the information with third parties except from time to time, we may transfer, disclose or share such information with third parties who may be engaged by us specifically to handle and manage certain functions (e.g. fulfilling contests and sweepstakes conducted on the Shop which we sponsor). Such third parties have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes and have agreed to maintain the confidentiality of any information they receive from us. Additionally, in the event that all or substantially all of the assets relating to beaconstreetgirls.com are transferred or sold to another entity, personal information we received from the Shop may be transferred to the acquiring entity. Finally, we may also disclose personal information about Shop users to third parties in order to comply with law or requests by law enforcement agencies, to enforce the Shop's Terms and Conditions or to protect the rights, property or safety of the Shop's users and others.

NOTE:  There are two different kinds of goods available through the Company’s websites.  Real goods (such as gifts and accessories) may be purchased from BSGShop.com and may be advertised or promoted on BeaconStreetGirls.com.  Virtual goods, including virtual representations or facsimiles of real goods, are available for “sale” via the “Town” on BeaconStreetGirls.com and can be “purchased” (or exchanged) for either Happy Lucky Points or Marty$Money, the website’s virtual currency. 

Information Received through the Purchase of Virtual Currency (Marty$Money)
In addition to the real goods available on BSGShop.com , virtual products and services are available for purchase by users from BeaconStreetGirls.com as part of the virtual experience we offer online.  These virtual goods are purchased using virtual currency (Marty$Money) and points (HappyLuckyPoints) earned from activity on the site.  Marty$Money can be purchased for real dollars (USD$) via the site using a credit card or PayPal and personal information is collected during this purchase. We use the personal information we receive internally within B*tween Productions, Inc. but we do not sell, transfer or share the information with third parties except from time to time, we may transfer, disclose or share such information with third parties who may be engaged by us specifically to handle and manage certain functions.  Such third parties have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes and have agreed to maintain the confidentiality of any information they receive from us. Additionally, in the event that all or substantially all of the assets relating to beaconstreetgirls.com are transferred or sold to another entity, personal information we received may be transferred to the acquiring entity. Finally, we may also disclose personal information about Marty$Money purchasers to third parties in order to comply with law or requests by law enforcement agencies, to enforce the website’s Terms and Conditions or to protect the rights, property or safety of the website's users and others.

Cookies and Log Data
A "cookie" is a small information file that your web browser places on the hard drive of your computer when you visit a website. Cookies cannot damage user files, nor can they read information from a user's hard drive. Cookies allow websites to "remember" users activities on a website as well as users visits to a site. At beaconstreetgirls.com, cookies are used to determine the number of unique visitors to our website over a given period and to remember user screen names so that the need for multiple log-ins is eliminated. We do not store any personal information into cookies nor do we link or combine information collected through cookies to any personal information that children submit online when participating in our activities. Children or their parents can disable cookies on their computer by indicating this in the Preferences or Options menus in their browser.

Log data and IP addresses collected on web servers within beaconstreetgirls.com's control supplies us with aggregate information about the number of visits to different pages on our site. We use such aggregate information to improve access to our content based on our visitors' browsers and operating system types to make our content available to as many children as possible. We do not link the log data collected to the personal information that children submit online when participating in our activities.

Parental Access and Certain Disclosures
While we make every effort to make your child's visit to beaconstreetgirls.com safe and enjoyable, we encourage parents to monitor their child's online use and to help us protect children's privacy by instructing them never to provide personal information on this or any other website without parental permission. We never require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in a contest, game or other activity and we never ask for last names or home addresses.

We might collect an e-mail address from a child under 13 without parental consent, but only if a child under 13 sends a specific request to us. We keep these e-mail address long enough to respond and delete this information from our system after we answer their question. If a child under 13 signs up for the Beacon Street Girls' Club BSG, the Club BSG newsletter or a personalized locker, or other activity which requires multiple online contact with the child, we ask the child for a parent's e-mail address so we can notify the parent and provide an opportunity for them to remove their child's information from our database.

We may have special site activities or promotions like contests or sweepstakes which are open to children even if they are under 13. In these activities, we are not allowed to ask for more information from the child than what is necessary for the child to participate in the activity. We require the child to give us a parent e-mail address, too, so that we can tell the parent that they have registered in a promotion or for a service. If we need more than an e-mail address to enter the child in the promotion or offer the service, we will notify the parent, explain what information we need and why, and generally ask that the adult (not the child) provide it. For instance, we might ask the adult for the mailing address so that we can send to the parent, for the child, any prizes the child wins, or for a telephone number so that we can tell the parent when the child has won. Any information given to us in the above special circumstances will be deleted from our database once the promotion, program or activity is concluded, and after any legally required period for keeping such information is complete.

Please note that due to the nature of the relationship between our fictional characters and children, children occasionally tell us things that they wouldn't tell other adults. In certain circumstances, if we deem it appropriate, we may send a special email to the parent address provided by a child suggesting that the child contact a children's help line or similar agency. If the circumstances appear to us to be dangerous, extreme or unlawful, we may contact appropriate law enforcement or other authorities and provide as much information as possible to aid such authorities - including any personally identifiable information we have -- such as the email addresses or IP addresses we collect or have access to as part of our log files.

We do not require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in a contest, sweepstake, game or other activity as a condition of participation. Upon proper identification, parents may review the personal information we have collected about their child, request deletion, or refuse to allow further collection or use by sending us a written request to our contact address listed at the end of this policy. Please understand, if you ask us to delete all your child's information, we will delete the child’s locker, personal page, list of online friends, and all account information, including parent and child email addresses.  All record of the child’s accumulated points and virtual money will also be deleted.  Of course, the public sections of the site can still be accessed.  These sections include certain puzzles, games, quizzes and book information that are access to site visitors without registration.  Also, for the reasons outlined above, we reserve the right to not delete information at a parent's request and to not release information to a parent if, in either case, we believe that doing so may endanger the child or would be inappropriate given the involvement of any law enforcement or other authorities.

Security

We have taken steps to ensure that whatever small amount of personally identifiable information collected (email addresses) is secure, including limiting the number of people who have physical access to our database servers as well as using electronic security systems and password protections which guard against unauthorized access.

We may provide links to other websites that may have their own information collection practices.  These other websites are governed by their own Privacy Policies or information collection practices, which may be substantially different from ours. We encourage visitors to other websites to review the privacy policies and information collection practices of those websites.

Questions/Concerns?

If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our privacy policy and/or practices, please email us at: legal@btweenproductions.com
Or write to us at:
B*tween Productions, Inc.
5 Commonwealth Executive Drive
Burlington, MA 01803
781-229-3993 (p)
781-229-3996 (f)

The beaconstreetgirls.com website is intended for domestic viewers and is consequently directed towards residents of the United States. (October 2008)