PRIVACY

***** PRIVACY *****  

Introduction

  The Internet Chess Club (ICC) handles a variety of different forms of
  information from its members and guests.  Some of this information is
  entered manually by the users of the ICC while they are logged in,
  or during the registration process.  Some of this information is
  collected automatically by our software without the explicit knowledge of
  the user.  This document describes what information we do and do not
  collect, who has access to the information that is collected, how to
  change or delete this information, and a number of related issues.

  We try to ensure that the flow of information is strictly limited in
  accordance with the policies below.  But remember that there are
  unusual circumstances under which they might be violated, and
  information might be revealed to people in violation of these
  policies.  Some examples include: a subpoena, a break-in to
  the ICC's computers (either physical or electronic), or an
  employee or Administrator who breaks the rules.

  In the rest of this document the term "Admin" refers to the set of
  ICC administrators, the list of which can be seen by typing
  "help admins".

Registration Information

  The following information (which you may have specified when you
  registered) can be seen only by Admins: Your name, your email address,
  your password, your postal address, your phone number, your previous
  ICC username, your USCF ID, expiration, and PIN number.
  Of course you are free to publicize your personal information.

  Your registration in ICC will also give you a subscription to our periodic
  email newsletter.  Each newsletter will contain a link at the bottom to
  allow you to unsubscribe at any time.

  The ICC may use your email address to sporadically send you
  important announcements.  (In the past such announcements have been
  sent fewer than once per year.  For example, such a bulk mailing was
  once used to tell all of our members an alternative way to connect to
  our server when the server machine was under attack.)  If you do not
  wish to ever get such announcements, send email to news@chessclub.com
  stating this fact.

  The ICC may use your postal address (if you checked the box to
  allow its use) to mail you information about products and services
  available from 3rd parties.  The ICC will not give your address
  to these 3rd parties.

  Naturally your username, your rating, and title (after verification) 
  are all publically visible.  Your country is also public information. 

  If you want to know the identity, email address, or other information
  on an ICC member, please do not ask an Admin.  Ask the member
  directly.  It is his or her decision to tell you.

Children's Policy Guidelines

   In compliance with COPPA (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act),
   we have adopted the following policies to keep kids safe:

   - We do not knowingly collect online contact information directly from
   children ages 13 and younger.
   - We do not distribute any personally identifiable information about
   children to third  parties.
   - We do not allow students to publicly post or distribute personally 
   identifiable contact information without prior parental consent
   - We do not use the prospect of a special game, prize or other activity,
   to entice children to divulge more information than is needed to 
   participate in the activity.
   - We will NOT knowingly keep any personal information that is inadvertently
   included in a child's email submission, help inquiry, or other one-time 
   request, if we know that the child is under the age of 13. 

   Any such information will be purged promptly after the issue has 
   been resolved. If you are under the age of 13, please do not provide
   your contact information or any other personally identifiable information
   to the ICC. If you are the parent or legal guardian of someone under
   the age of 13 who may have provided us with information without your 
   knowledge or consent, please contact us to have this information removed.

Authorized Mailings

  On occasion, the ICC may offer you a free prize, product or other mailing
  that is to be provided by a 3rd party.  If you accept this offer explicitly
  (by responding to the offer) or implicitly (e.g., by playing in a tournament
  offering the prize), then the ICC may release your personal information to
  such 3rd party, with the restriction that it is only to be used for such
  mailing.

Credit Card Information

  Credit card numbers are only stored on the ICC servers in
  encrypted form.  They are not visible to anybody except ICC
  employees (a small subset of the Admins) involved in the processing of
  payments.  Credit cards are processed by Cybercash.  Cybercash sends
  credit card numbers over the Internet in encrypted form.  (For more
  information see http://www.cybercash.com .)  The name, address, and
  phone number that is entered when a credit card is used is visible to
  the Admins.  The card number is not.

Private Communication

   The ICC does not explicitly log tell-type (that is, "tell" and "say")
   communication between a pair of users.  Any such conversation you have
   with another member is normally completely private.  Nobody, including
   Admins, can listen in on any such conversation that takes place on an 
   ICC server. Administrators are only privy to conversations between a 
   pair of ICC members when one member complains about the other party 
   using the "complain user" command ("help complain"), or if a member 
   relays the conversation.  However, there is a debugging log that on 
   rare instances contains such a tell message, and it is possible that 
   an Admin could inadvertently see such a message.  Such occurrences are 
   rare, and are not under the control of the Admins.

Public Communication

  Many modes of communication on an ICC server give the user an
  opportunity to reveal personal information to many other people.  This
  includes shouts, channels, and kibitzes.  Please remember that any
  information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public
  information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose
  your personal information.

Implicitly Collected Information

  For each session on an ICC server, an entry is made in a
  permanent connection log.  The following information is recorded in
  that log:

   - The time of the connection and disconnection
   - The name of the interface that was used
   - The IP number of the connection
   - The username
   - The machine ID of the computer from which the connection was made

  The Machine ID is a string which uniquely identifies the computer on
  which this connection was made.  This allows us to very reliably
  determine if two different sessions used the same computer.

  In addition, while you're playing on an ICC server, several
  other pieces of information are made available to the server.  The
  ICC client program notes when you switch from the client
  program to some other program and vice versa.  The ICC
  client and server are also able to determine whether or not you
  currently have a chess program running on your computer.  This
  information is used for the sole purpose of identifying people who are
  cheating by using a chess engine.  The Admins and a few other people
  who help catch computer cheaters are the only ones who have access to
  this information. (Read "help computers" for more information on
  the ICC's computer policies.)

  The ICC's software does not monitor any activity nor access any
  data beyond what is listed above, or what is obviously needed for the
  functioning of the software.  For example, it does access the profiles
  and PGN files it needs, but it does not access your email file.

Security

  While you're connected to an ICC server using a "timestamped"
  client (such as Blitzin), all communication between you and the server
  is encrypted.  All ICC servers are located in secure co-location
  facilities.  Backups of user records are made on a regular basis.

Viewing Removing or Changing Your Personal Information

  You can see your personal information by issuing the "personal-info"
  command while on an ICC server.
  You can modify this information by using the "set" command.  (Read
  "help set" for more details.)  For example, "set telephone 412-436-5558",
  will set your telephone number.

  You can also contact the ICC business office to request that
  this information be changed or removed.  Here is the contact
  information: 

      Email: icc@chessclub.com   
      Phone: 412-436-5558
      Fax: 412-521-5575
      Postal:  Internet Chess Club
               8 The Green Ste A-13114
               Dover, DE 19901
Contact Information

  If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of
  this site, or your dealings with this site, you can contact the ICC
  at the above phone numbers or postal address. 

See also:  finger, personal-info, set, agreement, safe-kids