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The ICQ Privacy Policy
As of August 24, 2000.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Please note that the ICQ service is not for use by children under 13 years of age. If it comes to ICQ's
attention through reliable means that a registered user is a child under 13 years of age, ICQ will cancel that
user's account.
Also please note that the ICQ software, as with most Internet applications, is vulnerable to various security issues
and hence should be considered unsecured. By using the ICQ Software and the Internet in general, you may be subject
to various risks, including among others:
- Exposure to objectionable material and/or parties, including without limitation, contaminated files.
- Unauthorized invasion of your privacy during, or as a result of, your use or another's use of the system.
- Spoofing, eavesdropping, sniffing, spamming, breaking passwords, harassment, fraud, forgery,
"imposturing", electronic trespassing, tampering, hacking, nuking, system contamination including without limitation
use of viruses, worms and Trojan horses causing unauthorized, damaging or harmful access and/or retrieval of information and data
on your computer and other forms of activity that may even be considered unlawful.
- Unauthorized exposure of information and material you listed or sent, on or through the
ICQ system to other users, the general public or any other specific entities for which the information and material
was not intended by you.
If you do not wish to be subjected to these risks, you are advised not to use the ICQ Software.
Furthermore, please do not use the ICQ Software for "Mission Critical" or "Content Sensitive"
applications and purposes. For the purpose of this section "Mission Critical"
applications and purposes shall mean applications and use that may result in damage; "Content Sensitive"
shall mean any information or data you do not wish to be freely accessible and generally available to Internet users.
Please note that in each and every Internet application, the IP address of the sender is an integral part of the
TCP/IP standard protocol of the Internet, and can be extracted by any party to the communication session using certain software
and/or hardware. Also note that the IP privacy feature, designed to allow an ICQ user to reduce the exposure
of his/her IP address on ICQ, is provided to you as a convenience only and does not guarantee a complete
non-exposure of your IP address.
For the ICQ Software's terms of service please review the following ICQ Privacy Policy as well as the ICQ License
Agreement, the Usage Notices, the Acceptable Use Policy, Tools Notices and any other terms of service document available on
or through http://www.icq.com/legal/.
European Union ICQ users understand and consent to the processing of personal information in the United States.
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In order for you to feel comfortable in communicating through ICQ, ICQ Inc. has adopted a privacy
policy that governs user privacy in communicating via ICQ, subject to the following issues:
In case you may not feel comfortable with these issues you are advised not to use ICQ.
Use of the ICQ software, the ICQ network, system, Web site, servers, various directories and listings,
message boards, tools, information and databases, Commercial Activities related thereto or any part
thereof ("ICQ Services and Information") is subject to the terms and conditions of the license agreement
that accompanied the ICQ software ("Software") or any updates thereof ("License Agreement") as well as
to the ICQ Privacy Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, Usage Notice and any other applicable terms of
service document all available on or through www.icq.com/legal/
(the "ICQ Terms of Service"). In case of contradiction between any provision of the License Agreement and the content of this
document, the provision of the License Agreement shall prevail, unless the provisions of this
document reflect narrower responsibility on behalf of ICQ Inc. than the appropriate provision
in the License Agreement. ICQ Inc. may change from time to time, this Privacy Policy, with or
without a release of a new version of the ICQ Software. You agree that your continuing to use
the Software and/or the ICQ Services and Information, for a period of 30 days after such notice
has been provided on the ICQ network or Web site for the first time, shall constitute your consent
to the new or revised Privacy Policy. Any reference made in this Privacy Policy to ICQ Inc. shall
be deemed to have been made to ICQ Inc., its subsidiaries, successors, assignees, affiliates as
well as any company that controls ICQ Inc., directly or indirectly, and any other subsidiary of that
controlling company.
European Union ICQ users understand and consent to the processing of personal information in the
United States.
Children Under 13
The ICQ Services and Information are NOT FOR USE BY CHILDREN UNDER 13 YEARS OF AGE.
Please note that if it comes to ICQ Inc.'s attention through reliable means that a registered user is a
child under 13 years of age, ICQ Inc. will cancel that user's account.
If You Are Subject to Abuse or Harassment
If a user did not choose to refrain from publishing his IP address on versions of the Software which
offer such option, you can try to find the last IP address (including dynamic IP address) of any
such user on your contact list by 'right clicking' the user's name field and then choosing "info".
This should give the user's last known IP and dynamic IP address, even if user is currently offline.
Messages sent via WWPager are stamped with the IP and dynamic IP address of the sender and with the
time the message was sent.
Please note that the IP address revealed may be erroneous. Furthermore, users may provide false or
misleading IP address.
The Internet Service Provider ("ISP") of a user can usually be found by using any WHOIS or DIG
program (WHOIS and DIG programs are usually available from the leading download sites). The name,
address and phone number of the person in charge of the ISP will usually be listed. Please note
that ICQ Inc. makes no warranty what so ever as to the accuracy of the data in the WHOIS and DIG
programs or the functionality of any or all of the WHOIS and DIG programs and is not responsible
for any damages that may result from download or use of such WHOIS and DIG programs.
If you were able to locate user's IP address in those versions of the Software which have such option,
you may contact his or her ISP and file your complaint. The IP address (including the dynamic IP
address) and the time the harassment occurred may enable the ISP to identify the user responsible
for the abuse or harassment. In addition, or if you were not able to trace the user's IP address,
check if your version of the Software offers ignore function (see information below on the ignore
function), and if so, you can put the harassing account on your Ignore List and ICQ will automatically
refrain from displaying message, URL, chat, authorization request and other events sent from a specific
ICQ account on your Ignore List to your ICQ account. You are further advised to use other privacy features applicable to your version of the
Software, which can be found on the 'Security & Privacy' option on the ICQ Menu button of your ICQ
version. Of course you may always start using a different account.
Privacy and Security Issues in ICQ
Unless produced by ICQ Inc., the information you access or receive by using the ICQ Software,
or available on the ICQ Services and Information or information sent to you by other users is
provided, entered or posted by the users and is not reviewed, controlled, examined, verified or
endorsed by ICQ Inc. in any way. Therefore, data and information on the ICQ Services and Information
may be subject to privacy and security invading activities including, but not limited to, eavesdropping,
electronic trespassing, sniffing, spamming, nuking, hacking, spoofing, "imposturing", breaking
passwords, harassment, fraud, forgery and system contamination including without limitation use
of viruses, worms and Trojan horses causing unauthorized, damaging harmful access and/or retrieval
of information and data on your computer and other forms of activities that may even be considered
unlawful. Information and data may also not reach their destination or reach an erroneous address
or recipient.
Furthermore, due to the nature and functionality of the ICQ Software and the ICQ Services and
Information, other people may become aware of or be able to retrieve your selection of various programs
or other parameters, status indication including posting of online - offline status of a user on the
Web or information regarding your IP and dynamic IP address or any information and details submitted
by you in the registration procedure, or while using the ICQ Software and the ICQ Services and
Information.
The information posted by ICQ Inc. on its Web site may be erroneous, outdated and may not fit the
various ICQ Software versions or to the various functions provided by the ICQ Software or the ICQ
Services and Information.
Responding to our users' wishes we are continuously adding more functions to our program to allow
users to enhance the privacy and security level of their communications with their peers. The various
ICQ software versions may contain different functions made to enable you to maintain your privacy
while still enjoying ICQ. You are, therefore, advised to examine the privacy and security functions
before using each such different version. You are further advised to take the appropriate measures
necessary to avoid any potential privacy and security invading activities while using ICQ (for additional
information see below). Please note that the ICQ software and its privacy and security features,
as most Internet applications, are vulnerable to various security issues including without limitation
various "exploits" applications that may reduce the functionality of these features to some or full
extent, and hence should be considered unsecured.
By using the ICQ Software and its privacy and security features, you may be subject to the various
risks described herein.
You should carefully determine whether any information sent to you complies with your needs and with
any legal obligation, including without limitation - obligations imposed by copyright, defamation,
decency, secrecy, privacy and export laws.
Privacy Policy and Standards
- The holder of an ICQ account password or anyone on his behalf or authorized by him has the
ability and discretion to provide, disclose, update or delete, at any time, the entire personal
details provided for that account or any part thereof on or from the ICQ directories maintained
by ICQ Inc.. Please note that this is not necessarily the case if you have provided details to
directories maintained by third parties such as the ICQ lists, the ICQ Groups, the ICQ virtual
private networks etc., nor is it valid with respect to messages you have posted on the ICQ
message boards. Once such information is provided, other people may obtain and retain such
information. Such details or any later addition or amendment thereto may not be immediately visible
to all users (e.g. users who already have that account on their contact list will be required to
press "Update" in order to view the new or revised details or information entered).
- Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the information entered or posted, through the Software
or through the Web, including without limitation, on the ICQ info templates-whitepages and
other directories, during registration or thereafter, the ICQ message boards, as well as status
indication and other user's parameters that can be found using the Software or the Web
("Public Information"), may be available to the public. Public Information shall not include
information meant to be sent through the ICQ network to a specific ICQ User's Software, unless
subsequently provided to ICQ Inc.
- In most cases and when network conditions allow for it, on some versions of the Software,
online communications (chat, message, file transfer, URL etc.) via ICQ are conducted directly
between the users. These communications are not relayed through the ICQ server unless you expressly
elected to do so. When direct communication between users is not possible, the system default
in some cases is to send it via the ICQ server, however, you may choose to disable such route.
- Authorization requests, WWPager and EmailExpress messages are always relayed through the
ICQ server. The 'invitation to join ICQ', if you chose to send to your friends is sent by you
without relaying it through the ICQ servers.
- All communications you elect to send offline or to relay through the server (message,
URL chat request, etc.) are stored and forwarded by the ICQ servers to the recipient, and
deleted once delivered to the recipient.
- Settings, technical and other information from your computer, such as your operating system,
ICQ and browser versions, connectivity, various communication parameters and other information
related to the operation and interaction of the ICQ Software ("Parameters") may be collected by
ICQ Inc., subject to the provisions herein. Parameters are collected solely in order to provide
you with, or access to, the ICQ Services and Information, subject to the provisions herein.
- ICQ Inc.'s operational personnel may be occasionally exposed to random usage traffic going
through the ICQ servers.
- In some versions of the Software, during online communication session, each and every party
to the session receives the IP and the dynamic IP address of each participant, unless the participant
chose not to provide that information in those software versions which offer such option.
Please note that by activating the "My Homepage" feature you allow third parties
to view your IP address. Also please note that the 'Don't Publish IP Address' feature can only be gradually implemented into
the ICQ system and therefore, does not provide a complete assurance that your IP address is not
published to some of the ICQ users. You should therefore, assume that even if you use this feature
as to avoid publishing of your IP Address, some ICQ users might still be able to see it.
Furthermore, please note that in each and every Internet application the IP Address of the sender
is an integral part of the TCP/IP standard protocol of the Internet, and can be found by using
certain software and/or hardware.
- Some versions of the software allow any party to an ICQ session to record the content of the
session (messages, URL, chat, chat request and other events). The ICQ program default in some
versions is set to record message and other event dialog and traffic.
- YOU ARE ESPECIALLY ADVISED NOT TO USE OR RELY ON THE ICQ SERVICES AND INFORMATION OR ANY OTHER
PROGRAM, INFORMATION OR SERVICE WHATSOEVER RELATED THERETO FOR "CONTENT SENSITIVE" OR
"MISSION CRITICAL"
APPLICATIONS AND USE. "CONTENT SENSITIVE" SHALL MEAN ANY INFORMATION OR DATA YOU DO NOT WISH TO
BE FREELY ACCESSIBLE AND GENERALLY AVAILABLE TO INTERNET USERS. "MISSION CRITICAL" APPLICATIONS
AND USE SHALL MEAN APPLICATIONS AND USE THAT MAY RESULT IN DAMAGE.
- ICQ Inc. will permit authorized officers of the court access to all its available and
relevant information only to comply with valid legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena
or court order or to protect ICQ Inc.'s rights and property or in special emergencies when we
believe physical safety is at risk. Users' IP and dynamic IP addresses may be traced by ICQ Inc.
and disclosed for these purposes.
- ICQ Inc. has sole discretion in and may choose to terminate, limit, reduce, change or deny
at any time, temporarily or permanently the access granted to any ICQ user or account to the ICQ
Software and the ICQ Services and Information or any part thereof for any reason whatsoever or
no reason at all, without prior notice.
- ICQ Inc. gathers information and usage pattern (including without limitation by using "cookies"¹ )
related to your use of the Software, and the
ICQ Services and Information ("Usage Patterns") - to better understand how our users, as a group,
use the ICQ Services and Information and the various features thereof, as well as to help us
fit offerings to you as an individual and to conduct market research.
- Please note, that ICQ Inc. does not want to receive any confidential, secret or proprietary
information and material from you through the ICQ Web site, ICQ Inc.'s mail and e-mail addresses,
the ICQ Services and Information or in any other way. Any information or material submitted or
sent to ICQ Inc., excluding private communications between a user and other users that are not subsequently
made available to ICQ Inc., will be deemed not to be confidential or secret. By submitting or sending
documents, information or other material ("Material") to ICQ Inc. or by posting information entered on
the various ICQ directories, tools and messages on the ICQ message boards you (1) warrant that you
have no rights of any kind to the Material; that to the best of your knowledge no other party has
any rights to the Material; (2) grant ICQ Inc. an unrestricted, irrevocable license to use, reproduce,
display, perform, modify, transmit and distribute the Material, and you further agree that ICQ Inc.
is free to use any ideas, know-how, concepts or techniques you send us for any purpose.
- Always make sure you are using an authorized copy of the ICQ Software, downloaded directly
from the ICQ Web site or from other sites listed on the download page on the ICQ Web site. This
will enable you to use the latest functions allowing you to enhance the privacy and security level
of your communication.
- Various data may be used for commercial purposes, including without limitation, for advertising,
targeted advertising, marketing, co-registration to other services, promotional or any other activity
("Commercial Activities"), subject to the provisions herein.
- It is a good and important practice to scan any file downloaded from any server with the
latest available anti-virus program and not to download unless you are certain you are capable
of protecting your computer.
Caution! Receiving files from third parties, via any application (e.g. ICQ, email, etc.) may
be harmful. Before receiving any files from any user, and even if the account from which the file
transfer notice is sent looks familiar to you, it is strongly recommended that you verify that the
person sending you these files is indeed the person you think he is, for example by asking him for
some kind of information known only to the two of you. Please make sure not to receive files from
users you do not trust, from users you are not sure they are whom they say they are or whenever you
are not sure you want to receive the files.
Caution! By activating the "My Homepage" feature you may provide third parties with certain
limited remote access to certain files on your computer. Activating this feature increases the risk
that third parties will be able to tamper with your computer.
Commercial Use
ICQ Inc. may use, for Commercial Activities:
(a) the Parameters, Public Information and Usage Patterns or any part thereof, combined or separately (the "Data");
(b) the Data or any part thereof, combined with publicly available information, or information
provided by third parties;
provided that if any information other than Public Information is being used by ICQ Inc. or disclosed
to third parties for use by them in Commercial Activities, it will be done without user names, or if
names are part of the disclosed information, (i) you have consented to such disclosing of your name
or (ii) in the first time you are approached by ICQ Inc. or the third parties, you will be given
the opportunity to request not to be further approached by them.
Notwithstanding anything herein, ICQ Inc. may offer you access to different services that are provided by a
third party ("Partner") separately or together with ICQ Inc. ("Co-Branded Service").
Any information you choose to provide on any Co-Branded Service's Page may be used or disclosed by both ICQ Inc.
and the Partner subject to their respective privacy policies. A Co-Branded Service Page is a page, which bears both
ICQ and Partner's names, branding, graphics or anything else that may indicate that the page or the Co-Branded Service are offered
by ICQ Inc. and provided by the Partner, separately or together with ICQ Inc.. Please make sure to read both Partner's and
ICQ's privacy policies before entering or providing information to a Co-Branded Service Page.
¹ A cookie is a file transferred to your computer that records certain technical information about your preferences and Usage Patterns with respect to a particular Web site. You can set your browser to notify you when a cookie is sent to your computer and you may refuse to accept any cookie. However, please note that should you decide not to accept a cookie sent from the ICQ Services and Information and the various features thereof, it may impact your ability to fully enjoy the ICQ Services and Information or any feature thereof. For more information about cookies, including some information on how to disable them you may go to http://www.cookiecentral.com/
(End of Privacy Policy)
Tips to Help You Protect Your Privacy and Security - ICQ Ver 99a
As of January 26, 1999.
Copyright © 1999, 2000 ICQ Inc. All Rights Reserved
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