Hatena.com Privacy Policy

The “Hatena Website” (http:/www.hatena.com) and/or “Flipnote Hatena Website” (an optimized version of the Hatena Website, found on Nintendo DSi) (collectively, the “Site”) is operated by Hatena Co., Ltd. (“Hatena”). Hatena is committed to safeguarding the privacy of Users (both “Registered Users” and guest “Users”). The following is Hatena’s Privacy Policy related to Personal Information collected, used or disclosed through the Site from Registered Users. By using the Site, you confirm your agreement to this Privacy Policy. Please note that capitalized terms in this Privacy Policy that are not defined shall have the meaning set forth in the Terms of Use.

Please note that this Privacy Policy is intended to meet the laws and regulations of the United States and Canada only. If you are located outside of the United States, Hatena may apply additional or different terms to your use of the Site.

Information Collected and its Uses

Information You Provide
When you sign up for a Hatena.com account, we ask you for Personal Information (such as your name, email address, and an account password). The information we collect is used to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of your experience on the Site. If a child under 13 wishes to set up a Hatena account, we will ask his or her parent to provide us with verifiable parental consent to the collection, use and processing of information from such child.
Cookies
We use cookies on the Site. Cookies are small text files that the Site places on your hard drive whenever you visit the Site. These files identify your computer and record your preferences and other data about your visit so that when you return to the Site, it knows who you are and can personalize your visit. We use cookies to improve the quality of our service, to confirm when a User has logged into the flipnote service, to measure the number of unique Registered Users of the flipnote service, and for Registered User authentication. Advertisers on our Site may also set cookies. Hatena has no control over such cookies, which are bound by the privacy policies of such parties. The Site also utilizes third-party cookies and image files (web beacons) in order to anonymously track and analyze website usage and activity. This information is compiled and analyzed on an aggregate basis.
Nintendo DSi Users
For Users who access the Hatena services supporting the Nintendo DSi, Hatena automatically collects the Nintendo DSi machine ID (“MAC ID”) that is being used to access the Flipnote service, DSi Username, User date of birth as well as the User Flipnote Hatena friend list and MAC IDs of the Users’ Flipnote Hatena friend list members.
Log Information
When you access the Site, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser. Log information is used to analyze the ways Users are utilizing the flipnote services, to identify confirmation, and to investigate suspected violation of the Rules.
User Communications
When you send email or other communications to Hatena, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests, and improve the Flipnote services.
User Generated Content
Remember that when you upload a flipnote to the Site it may be viewed by people all over the world. You should take extra care not to include any personally identifiable information about yourself in a flipnote or any comments you make on the Site. Hatena is not responsible for voluntarily posted information, which may be collected and used by others.

Information Sharing

Hatena only shares Personal Information with other companies or individuals outside of Hatena in the following limited circumstances:

  • We have your consent. Except as described below, we will notify you before we share your Personal Information with a third party and give you the right to choose not to have your information shared.
  • We may share your Personal Information with our corporate affiliates and other trusted third parties including our vendors, service providers and suppliers for the purpose of providing the Site and flipnote services, processing parental consent and operating our business in connection with your requests. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, we do not share Personal Information with other third parties for their direct marketing purposes without the consent of our Users.
  • We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request; (b) enforce our Terms of Use or Community Guidelines, including investigation of potential violations thereof; (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; or (d) protect against harm to the rights, property, or safety of Hatena, its Users or the public as required or permitted by law.
  • As part of any merger, sale, transfer of company assets, or acquisition, if permitted by and done in accordance with applicable laws.

Information Security

Your User Registration Personal Information can only be viewed by you after correctly entering your Username and Password. Except for children under 13 whose parents or guardians may view, access and update their information, other Users or a third party cannot view this information in order to protect your privacy.

SSL code is used to transmit data you submit to the Site in order to protect sensitive data during transmission.

Except for authorized personnel, Hatena employees are prohibited from accessing User Registration Personal Information. Hatena employees are bound by a confidentiality agreement, and must observe the Security Policy set by Hatena.

Accessing and Updating Your Personal Information

As a general rule, Hatena allows Users to view, edit, or remove their own User Registration Personal Information by going to My Hatena after login. You can also subscribe or unsubscribe from our News Letter.

To learn how to view, edit or remove your User Registration Personal Information, please visit the Update Registration section.

Where a User cancels their registration or requests removal of their Personal Information Hatena will undertake reasonable steps to meet such requests. However, some information might continue to exist on Hatena systems as part of Hatena’s routine document retention and preservation policies including policies designed to protect Hatena’s rights and interests.

Children

When a User attempts to register for an account on the Site, we collect an email address, password, and date of birth. Hatena requires verifiable consent of parents or guardians before collecting Personal Information from children under the age of 13 via the Site and services.

For purposes of verifying parental consent, a parent or legal guardian must either:

  • complete the Flipnote Hatena Parent/Guardian Permission Form provided by Hatena and send it to Hatena via postal mail, fax or scanned and emailed as an image file; or
  • use any other COPPA compliant consent processes made available by Hatena.

The Personal Information that Hatena collects from children under 13 years of age is used for the following purposes:

  • 1) Service-related email communications.
  • 2) Optimizing and personalizing content.
  • 3) Research and development to improve and develop new services.
  • 4) Authenticating and registering Users.
  • 5) Responding to and investigating allegations of violations of the Terms of Use or other legal violations.

Parental Access and Control of Children’s Personal Information.

Personal Information provided to Hatena by children can be accessed by the parents or legal guardians of the child User by accessing the “Parental Control” page at http://www.hatena.com/parentalcontrol and using their “Parental Control Code” to view, modify or delete their child’s account information. The “Parental Control Code” is sent by email to the parent or legal guardian at the time of the registration of their child’s account. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child User of Hatena and have lost your “Parental Control Code” you can have it reissued by contacting Hatena Customer Support via email at

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will post any Privacy Policy changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice. Each version of this Privacy Policy will be identified at the top of the page by its effective date. We will seek consent of Users prior to implementing any change to this Privacy Policy that would be less restrictive on our use of Personal Information than what we promised at the time of original collection.

Contact Us

Please feel free to direct any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or our treatment of Personal Information to us by contacting us at or by writing to us at:

Hatena Co., Ltd., Oike Bldg. 9fl., Takamiya-cho 206, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 604-0835 Japan