Matchmaker.com Registration: When you register to use Matchmaker.com, you provide Lycos with an email address, birth date, and ZIP Code. For members of the majority of the Matchmaker.com communities, Lycos collects your credit card information in connection with your payment for the service. If you complete the Matchmaker.com questionnaire, Lycos collects and posts all of your responses, plus the ZIP Code you provide and any photos or images that you post. At the end of the registration process, you are asked whether you are interested in receiving information about certain topics that may be of interest; Lycos collects your responses to those questions. Occasionally, the "Matchmaker" of the community to which you belong may send a survey to the community; if you answer the survey, Lycos collects your survey responses.
Lycos Messenger Registration: When you register to use Lycos Messenger, you must provide Lycos with information such as your email address, name, age, and gender; your city, country, and ZIP code of residence; and your preference of language. In addition, you may voluntarily supply information about your personal interests. You may elect to make Lycos Messenger registration information accessible to other users by checking the "public" box next to that information. If you do not check the "public" box next to an item, then that item will not be disclosed to other users. For a description of how the public registration information will be made available to other users, please click here.
Other Registration: In addition to registration for various services on the Lycos Network, we may ask you for personal information at other times, including when you enter a sweepstakes, contest or promotion sponsored by the Lycos Network. As described below, our co-brand partners also ask for personal information. If you purchase premium services we will ask for a valid credit card number. If you choose not to provide the requested information, the Lycos Network may not be able to offer you some of the personalized services that depend on this type of information to function
Correspondence: If you contact the Lycos Network, we may keep a record of that correspondence. We do not collect any email addresses of those who communicate with the Lycos Network via email. We use the information provided so that we may respond to the email.
Lycos reserves the right to collect certain information and store it in connection with your account. This information includes information about the different sites that you visit within the Lycos Network as well as the time and frequency at which you visit them. This information also includes the content that you transmit or post on the Lycos Network. For further information about Lycos's policy on maintaining transmitted or posted content, please see the Lycos Network Terms and Conditions.
2. What organization is collecting the information?
When you register for a service within the Lycos Network, that information is generally collected and maintained solely by the Lycos Network unless specifically stated otherwise at the point of collection. If data is collected and/or maintained by any company other than Lycos, we will tell you at the point of collection. If you do not want to share your information with that company, you can choose not to use that service.
Click here to see a list of companies that work with Lycos to provide you with a wide variety of Products and Services.
Lycos runs many promotions and sweepstakes across its Network. These promotions may be sponsored or co-sponsored by third-party companies. Data collected during a promotion is typically shared with the sponsor or co-sponsor. Lycos will inform you at the point of collection whether or not we are sharing your personal data as a result of your participation in a promotion or sweepstakes. If you do not want to have the Lycos Network share your data, you can choose not to participate in the promotion or sweepstakes.
Be aware that Lycos Network sponsors and other advertisers have links on the Network that take you to external sites. Some of these sites may collect personally identifiable information from you, and third-party advertising networks for Lycos like DoubleClick may use cookies and Web beacons in their advertisements to collect certain information from you. While Lycos hopes that all third parties involved adhere to our policies regarding the privacy of our users, the Lycos Network Privacy Policy does not cover third-party data collection practices and the Lycos Network does not assume any responsibility for any actions of third parties.
3. What are "cookies" and "Web beacons" and how does Lycos use them?
In addition to the personally identifiable information that Lycos actively collects when you register, we also collect anonymous information passively using cookies and Web beacons. This technology plays an important role in making the Internet work, but there is much confusion among Internet users about what cookies and Web beacons are and how they are used.
A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that is transferred from a Web site to the hard drive of your computer so that the site administrator may identify your computer and passively track its activities on the Web site. This unique number identifies your Web browser to our computer system whenever you visit one of the sites in the Lycos Network. A cookie will not allow a Web site to learn any personally identifiable information (such as your real name and address) that you have not otherwise disclosed.
Cookies allow Lycos to automatically remember your Web browser when you visit our Network of Web sites. To help serve you better, Lycos generally uses cookies to:
Allow us to deliver products and services more efficiently. By storing certain registration and preference information on cookies or associating cookies with registration, preference or profile information stored on our computers, we can deliver products and services that use such information more quickly and efficiently for more users. This information is normally saved in an encrypted form that only Lycos can interpret.
Prevent others from using your account. On some Lycos Network sites, cookies help us efficiently determine that only one user is logged on under the same member name at a time.
Measure statistics such as audience size and traffic patterns. This information is only collected in aggregate form and will not be linked to your personally identifiable information.
Display advertisements. Cookies let us know whether a Web browser has seen a particular advertisement (so we can show you a variety of material) and count the number of advertisements displayed to a particular browser. We also use cookies to customize the advertising you see based on non-personally identifiable demographic information that you provide when you register. Third-party advertising networks for Lycos (like DoubleClick) may issue cookies on the Lycos Network and other sites when serving advertisements. Click here for information on our relationship with DoubleClick.
The use of cookies is an industry standard, and they are currently used on most major Web sites. It is possible to adjust your Web browser preferences to alert you when a cookie is sent to your hard drive, or to refuse cookies altogether. While Lycos does not require you to use cookies, keep in mind that certain sites and services will not function properly if you set your browser to refuse all cookies.
Web beacons, also known as clear GIFs or single-pixel GIFs, are small image files that Lycos may place on Web pages and within Web-based email newsletters that we send. Working in conjunction with cookies, Web beacons allow Lycos to accurately count the number of unique users who have visited a specific page on the Lycos Network and the number of times those pages are displayed. We can also use Web beacons to let us know how many people opened a Web-based email newsletter. This information is only collected in aggregate form and will not be linked to your personally identifiable information.
Without cookies and Web beacons, it would be difficult for Lycos to know which services have a larger audience than others. Tracking audience size helps us to better understand when to launch new services and enhance the current offerings. Keep in mind that any image file on a Web page can act as a Web beacon. Third-party advertising networks for Lycos like DoubleClick may use Web beacons in their advertisements.
Because Web beacons work in conjunction with cookies, you can prevent our Web beacon from collecting anonymous information by setting your Web browser to refuse all cookies or the Lycos Network cookie in particular. Web beacons are built into our Web pages, so non-functional Web beacons will continue to appear even if you refuse the Lycos Network cookie.
4. How does the Lycos Network use the information it collects?
Any personally identifiable information you share with Lycos when registering for Products and Services at any of our Network sites is maintained and accessible only by Lycos unless specifically stated otherwise. Lycos requests information from its users so that users can enjoy customized experiences across the Lycos Network, including personalization services, interactive communications, online games and much more. Most of these Products and Services are available to you at no cost, and Lycos displays advertisements so we can continue to provide great content and services free of charge. We can also better prepare future content based on your interests.
The following are examples of how the Lycos Network may use the information it collects:
Lycos uses the information collected (both anonymous and personal) to personalize and enhance the content you see on the Lycos Network, such as news, stock portfolios, weather reports, sports scores, horoscopes, advertisements and more. In some cases, our Products and Services cannot work unless you have volunteered accurate information (for example, we need your valid ZIP Code to display weather conditions in your local area).
Lycos collects anonymous data and shares it with third-party advertisers in an aggregate form. We will disclose to those advertisers the numbers of Lycos users who have certain demographic characteristics and the number of those people who have seen and "clicked" on a particular display. We will also disclose to those advertisers the overall demographics available regarding who saw and "clicked" on their advertisement. In addition, we may disclose anonymous results from online surveys to third-party advertisers or to Lycos's product and service providers. No personally identifiable information will be disclosed as part of this process.
Lycos also uses the aggregate data to perform statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our registered users and visitors, to measure user demographics and interests regarding specific areas of the Lycos Network, and to analyze how and where best to use our resources. Without such data, we would not know which parts of the Lycos Network are the most popular, and we would not be able to change and update the content and services appropriately. Please note that we may share this aggregate information with third-party companies.
Lycos collects an aggregate list of search terms from its HotBot and Lycos search services. This information is collected anonymously and used primarily for the purposes of product development, monitoring, and improvement, as well as targeted advertising. Please note, however, that we may share this anonymous information with third-party companies.
Lycos sometimes uses an individual registered user's data to "pre-populate" online forms that are displayed for the purpose of collecting additional individual data by the Lycos Network, selected third-party sites, and/or sponsors and advertisers.
Lycos may, from time to time, use your information to contact you about changes or enhancements to Products and Services on the Lycos Network, issues regarding your account, or Lycos Network Terms and Conditions violations or suspensions.
If you enter a sweepstakes or a contest on the Lycos Network, we will use the information you provided to contact you in the event you win.
If you told Lycos that you were interested in receiving special offers from select Lycos clients, Lycos or third parties on Lycos's behalf (i) will send you email and postal mail about products and services that we feel may be of interest to you, and (ii) may combine information we have about you with information we obtain about you from third parties for the purpose of providing you with more appropriate products, services, and offerings. If you do not wish to participate in this program, please follow the opt-out instructions set forth in Section 7 of this policy.
Subscription Customers: Your credit card information is used to collect your recurrent subscription fees for Quote.com, Matchmaker.com, or other pay services.
Lycos Family Membership Customers: Your credit card information is used to verify the age of a parent or guardian. The credit card will not be charged during the Lycos Family Membership registration process, and only the last 4 digits and a transaction number will be stored as proof of transaction. Click here for more information.
5. With whom does the Lycos Network share the information that is collected?
By providing Lycos with your personally identifiable information, you authorize Lycos to internally share that information with other companies in the Terra Lycos group, including companies that become part of the Terra Lycos group in the future. You can see a current list of Terra Lycos companies here: terra.com.
Any company in the Terra Lycos group (including Lycos) is authorized to share your personally identifiable information with any other company of the Terra Lycos group for the following purposes: to manage, administer, provide, expand and improve the existing Terra Lycos group products and services, and to offer new products and services; to adapt such products and services to your tastes and preferences; to send service updates to Terra Lycos users; to send, by traditional and/or electronic means, technical, operational and commercial information relating to the products and services offered by the Terra Lycos group or through any of the sites operated by the Terra Lycos group, currently and in the future; and to send you survey forms, which you are not required to fill in. Of course, Lycos and the Terra Lycos group companies will always give you the option to opt out of receiving any information or notices as described above, other than legal notices and other notices that are necessary to the functioning of the Products and Services, during the time that you are using the Products and Services or maintain an active registration with the Lycos Network. Companies in the Terra Lycos group may have a physical address in a foreign country. In any event, Lycos will take precautions to maintain the confidentiality and security of all user information sent abroad.
The Lycos Network will sometimes share personally identifiable information with third-party companies and organizations. In most cases, you agree to share your information when you choose to register at a co-branded Web site. Co-branded sites are operated by third-party companies and offer a particular service or product to Lycos Network members. We may also maintain private label relationships where a third-party company provides Lycos with technology, services and/or content under Lycos Network branding.
Whenever you provide registration information on co-branded or private label sites, that data may be shared with the third-party company providing the service. You should make every effort to read the individual privacy policies of such third parties and make an informed decision on your own whether to continue based upon these sites' privacy practices and your own discretion. You may opt-out of sharing your information with such providers by choosing not to use that service or content.
When you find goods or services through Lycos Shopping, you submit data directly to the individual merchants from whom you order goods or services. Please review carefully the privacy policies of particular merchants that you access through Lycos Shopping.
In addition to finding co-branded and private label sites, you will find direct links on our site to sites offered by third parties. Some of these sites are authorized to use the Lycos Network brands and/or logos. No third-party sites are covered by this Privacy Policy. If you feel that a site using a Lycos Network brand and/or logo does not follow an acceptable privacy policy, please contact the Lycos Privacy Site Coordinator by email at privacy@lycos.com.
Lycos may disclose information about individual users to third parties who agree to provide services to Lycos and who agree to maintain the confidentiality of such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. These third parties will provide a variety of services to Lycos, including, without limitation, processing and storing user information, helping to create new content and promotions for the Lycos Network, and sending or coordinating the sending of marketing communications that users have consented to receive. Lycos will disclose information about individual users to governmental or judicial authorities or law enforcement agencies, or to other individuals or entities in response to subpoena, court order, or other legal process. In matters involving a danger to personal or public safety, Lycos may voluntarily provide information to appropriate governmental authorities.
If you elect to receive Lycos Registration Offers during registration for the Lycos Network, Lycos will release personally identifiable information to the applicable sponsor or advertiser. Information released may include name, email address, postal address and other information supplied in the Lycos Network registration process. Please note that the sponsor or advertiser will not be bound by this Lycos Network Privacy Policy.
If Lycos is acquired by or merged with another company, Lycos may transfer personally-identifiable information about you to that company. Lycos will notify you in the event that your personally-identifiable information is transferred under these circumstances and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Matchmaker.com Customers: Lycos creates your public profile by using your answers to the Matchmaker.com questionnaire and your ZIP Code, along with any photos or images you post. Users will have the ability to search and view the public profiles.
Lycos Messenger Customers: Lycos creates a public profile for you by using the information that you submitted as part of the Lycos Messenger registration and that you indicated should be made public. Users will have the ability to search and view the public profiles for the purpose of finding others for their "buddy" lists.
Lycos Domains Customers: Users of Lycos Domains will be required to designate an administrative contact and, in some instances, a technical contact for the domain names they register. Lycos will assume that the Lycos member who registers for the Lycos Domains service will serve as these contacts, although users will have the ability to designate other contacts. Lycos will disclose the name, address, phone number, fax number, and email address of the administrative and technical contacts to Lycos's domain name provider, which in turn will make such information publicly available through an online WHOIS database.
6. How can you access or edit your information?
The Lycos Network provides its registered users the ability to access and edit the personal information in their user profiles. For most membership sites on the Lycos Network (My Lycos, Lycos Mail, Gamesville, htmlGEAR, Tripod, Angelfire, Raging Bull and Quote.com) you can access your user profile by following these steps:
Go directly to this page. You will receive a prompt to log in to the Network with your Lycos Network Member Name and password.
After you log in, you will be taken to the Membership Information page, which contains your user profile. If you see a field that needs to be updated, click the appropriate Edit button.
Make the necessary changes and click the Update button to save your changes.
For some other sites on the Lycos Network, you will have to follow different steps to update the personal information in your user profile.
Matchmaker.com at matchmaker.com: After you log in, click on the "Member Tools" link at the bottom of any community page, select "Edit Page", and select the information you would like to update or revise. Edit your responses to any community survey by clicking on the "Member Tools" link, selecting "Edit Page", and selecting "Review/edit the Survey Question/s." To make an adjustment to your username, or your selection for gender or sexual preference, click on the "Feedback" button and complete the form.
Lycos Messenger at messenger.lycos.com: After you log in, click on the "Activate" link and the information that you have previously provided will be displayed on the page. Edit the information or settings you would like to update, such as your public display preferences, and click on "Activate."
7. What is the opt-out policy for the Lycos Network?
You can opt out of sharing your personally identifiable information with any third-party service or content providers in any areas of the Lycos Network by choosing not to use such areas.
In addition, you may opt-opt of sharing your personally identifiable information with third-party service providers and sponsors by clearing the appropriate checkboxes at the point of initial collection. You will see these checkboxes near the bottom of the registration page.
After the point of initial collection, we offer you the ability to opt-out of receiving updates and information about new Lycos products and services, as well as direct mail offers from selected service providers and sponsors. The instructions to opt out of most Lycos Network email newsletters and direct mail communications are the same as the instructions for editing user information profiles. Simply follow these steps:
Go directly to this page. You will receive a prompt to log in to the Network with your Lycos Network Member Name and password.
After you log in, you will be taken to the Membership Information page, which contains your email subscriptions. Click the Edit button under the Email Subscriptions banner.
Make the necessary changes and click the Update button to save your changes.
In addition, all Lycos Network newsletters and direct email communications have easy-to-follow unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email.
If you are receiving email newsletters from Matchmaker.com, follow the unsubscribe instructions found at the bottom of each email communication. If you are receiving email newsletters from Wired Digital, Lycos Music, Lycos Computers or Sonique, follow the unsubscribe instructions found at the bottom of each email communication or go directly to this Web page: hotwired.lycos.com.
If you have a question about the Lycos opt-out process that is not answered here, please send an email to privacy@lycos.com.
8. What kinds of security procedures are in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of your information?
The Lycos Network has security measures in place to attempt to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of your user data under our control. Lycos uses physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect any personally identifiable data stored on its computers. Only authorized employees have access to the information you provide us. Any particularly sensitive information, such as a credit card number used to purchase premium services from Quote.com or Matchmaker.com, is encrypted prior to transmission.
While we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration to data will not occur, we take many precautions to prevent such unfortunate occurrences.
You are ultimately responsible for the security of your Lycos Network ID and password. Please take care when using and storing them. Lycos recommends that you do not divulge your password to anyone. You should log out of your browser at the end of each computer session to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence, especially if several people have access to your personal computer or you are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe.
9. How does the Lycos Network comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)?
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 provides safeguards to protect children who use the Internet by regulating the online collection of personal information from children under the age of 13. Because of these safeguards, children under 13 are not able to access or use all Products and Services on the Lycos Network. Parents of children under 13 can authorize their children to use some of our services by signing up for a Lycos Family Membership.
Parents can learn more about the Lycos Family Membership and obtain detailed answers about our compliance with COPPA by clicking here.
10. What you can do to better protect yourself on the Internet?
Know the risks.
Meeting new people in an online community (chat room, forum, newsgroup, message board, Web page, etc.) is one of the best things about the Internet, but you should always be careful about disclosing personal information such as an actual name, member name, email address, and so on. This information may be collected and used by others within the online community to send unsolicited email messages from other parties, outside the Lycos Network. Some of the messages you receive may be useful to you, but some may not. In an effort to curtail unsolicited email, Lycos blocks certain email addresses and domains from sending messages to email addresses at our domains.
Educate yourself.
Search the Web for as much information as you can about how to protect your privacy. Look for a privacy policy on the Web sites you visit. A good place to start is TRUSTe -- an independent, non-profit organization with a mission to build trust and confidence in the Internet. The Federal Trade Commission has a great Web site with useful information on being a Savvy Internet Traveler along with other privacy initiatives. Additional privacy resources can be found at by clicking on any of the following links
Department of Education: Parents Guide to the Internet
ed.gov /internet/
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
bbbonline.com
Center for Democracy and Technology
cdt.org - Data Privacy
cdt.org - Guide to Online Privacy
Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
the-dma.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation - non-profit dedicated to protecting public interest in online privacy.
eff.org
EPIC.org (Electronic Privacy Information Center)
epic.org
Georgetown Internet Privacy Study
msb.edu
Net Nanny - child safety software that filters potentially harmful Web sites
netnanny.com
NetCoalition.com
netcoalition.com
Network Advertising Initiative
networkadvertising.org
Online Privacy Alliance
privacyalliance.org
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
privacyrights.org
Tell your children: "Never talk to strangers!"
While Lycos works hard to protect children on the sites within the Lycos Network, we cannot protect their privacy once they leave. Please teach children that they should not reveal their names or other personal information to anyone they encounter on the Internet. They should also be instructed not to fill out any forms or register at any Web site without your knowledge and consent. Parents can also prevent or limit a child's access to inappropriate material on the Web by using commercially available parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services). Take advantage of the online resources for parents available on the Lycos Network, such as SearchGuard and GetNetWise.
Use PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) pgp.com or another encryption program.
Contact Us
Questions regarding this statement should be directed to:
Lycos Privacy Site Coordinator
Lycos, Inc.
100 5th Ave
Waltham MA 02451
(781) 370-2700
(781) 370-2886 (Fax)
privacy@lycos.com
If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact TRUSTe, who will serve as a liaison with the Lycos Network to resolve your concerns.
Updates
The Lycos Network will update this policy from time to time so please check back periodically. When such changes occur, you will see the word "Updated" next to the Privacy Policy link on the front page of each site on the Lycos Network. If at any point we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will prominently post such changes prior to implementing them.
Last updated August 18, 2003. |
