Updated June 9, 2005


We are committed to protecting our users' privacy. Keeping the information you share with us on the Site secure and ensuring your understanding of how we collect, use and maintain your information is important to us at mtvU. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your information and while no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure from intrusion, we have used and will continue to use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure the protection of your information. We continually assess new technology for protecting information and, when appropriate, we upgrade our information security systems.

Because of its importance and to make it easier for you to find and review it, we have made this Privacy Statement into a separate document on the Site. However, bear in mind it is a part of our agreement with you and the terms and conditions contained in our Terms of Use describe how and when we may make changes to these statements and terms, and how they become binding upon you. mtvU reserves the right to modify this policy. Any changes to the policy will be posted on this page. Users are encouraged to check the page regularly as they will be bound by the changes once posted on the site.

Disclosure (General): Although your privacy is very important to us, in this legal and technical environment, we cannot fully ensure that your personally identifiable information will not be disclosed to third parties. Please see "Disclosure to Third Parties", below, for more information.

YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS: Residents of the State of California, under a new provision of the California Civil Code, have the right to request from companies conducting business in California a list of all third parties to which the company has disclosed personally identifiable information during the preceding year for direct marketing purposes. Alternatively, the law provides that if the company has a privacy policy that gives either an Opt-out or Opt-in choice for use of your Personal Information by third parties (such as advertisers or affiliated companies) for marketing purposes, the company may instead provide you with information on how to exercise your disclosure choice options.

mtvU.com qualifies for the alternative option; it has a comprehensive privacy policy and provides you with details on how you may Opt-out or Opt-in to the use of your Personal Information by third parties for direct marketing purposes. Therefore, we are not required to maintain or disclose a list of the third parties that received your Personal Information for marketing purposes during the preceding year.

If you are a California resident and request information about how to exercise your third party disclosure choices you must send a request to the following email address with a preference on how our response to your request should be sent (email or postal mail). Send email to Privacy Administrator at mtvi-admin@mtvn.com or you may contact us via postal mail at:

mtvU.com
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
Attn: Your California Privacy Rights
c/o Privacy Administrator

All requests sent via postal mail must be labeled "Your California Privacy Rights" on the envelope or post card and clearly stated on the actual request. For all requests, please include your name, street address, city, state, and zip code. (Your street address is optional if you wish to receive a response to your request via email. Please include your zip code for our own recordkeeping.) We will not accept requests via the telephone or by facsimile. We are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, or do not have complete information. To all other users of this Site, if you have other questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Administrator at mtvi-admin@mtvn.com:

mtvU.com
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
c/o Privacy Administrator

Overview: This Privacy Statement is intended to explain our privacy practices and inform you as to:

  • the kinds of information we collect from users of the Site and how that information is collected;
  • how we use the information;
  • the circumstances under which we disclose information to third parties;
  • how you can access, update or delete any information collected about you by us; and
  • the mechanisms we have implemented to protect your personally identifiable information.

You can visit the Site and learn about our company and its Products, as well as certain goods and services available from our advertisers and suppliers.

Personally Identifiable Information: When we use the term "personally identifiable information" we mean information such as your full name, street address, town or city, state, zip code, telephone number, instant-messenger nickname, blog or other personal website URL, date of birth, e-mail address and any other information that would allow someone to identify you or contact you. Personally identifiable information also includes information about your transactions or relationship with us, if you have been a customer or you have provided this type of information to any of the mtvU family of companies. For example, if you order any of our Products, in addition to your name and contact information, we will also collect and maintain your billing address, shipping address, Product selections, your credit card or other payment instrument information, your order number, and information about your computer's internet address and web site which may have referred or directed you to the Site (e.g., the referring URL). We collect this and other information to fill your order, to communicate with you about your order and to send you promotional materials.

Although we may track the numbers of visitors to inform us on how best to update the Site and enhance the experience for all visitors, personally identifiable information is not extracted in this process. We use tracking information on an aggregated basis to help us operate the Site, enhance and improve our service, improve the look of the Site and display advertising and marketing information.

We collect personally identifiable information about you when you visit the Site and input information, whether you are registering to use the Site, enrolling or signing up for features and functions, participating in Promotions, ordering or purchasing Products or in the course of any other exchanges of information, transactions and activities. We may use the information we obtain from you, including personally identifiable information, to tailor your experience on the Site, to display content we think may be of interest to you, or to let us customize what you see when you visit the Site according to your preferences.

The personally identifiable information you provide to us, as well as any information, personal or otherwise, that you create and which may be saved on or in association with the Site, is used to provide you with better service. It allows us to save you time and money and better understand your needs. It also helps us help you learn more about your preferences and those goods and services that may be of interest to you. For example, we track your information to assist us in confirming and filling orders, producing reports, maintaining quality control, administering and managing the Site and our business, and, whenever it may become necessary or appropriate, to contact you concerning your orders, your transactions or any other activities associated with the Site. We may use your personally identifiable information to advise you of goods or services, including Products, which may be available from mtvU, its suppliers and advertisers. You acknowledge, understand and hereby agree that you are giving us your consent to track your activities and your use of the Site and its functions and features, in connection with your use of the Site.

Cookies: We use 'cookie' technology to collect data regarding your visits to the Site. This data is stored in aggregate form and is not used to identify any particular user or individual. We use cookies and similar tracking technologies in a variety of ways, including:

  • keeping count of your return visits to the Site or our advertisers' or partners' sites;
  • accumulating and reporting aggregate, statistical information in connection with the Site;
  • determining which features users like best; and
  • saving your user ID, your password or other information so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit the Site.

Third Parties on our Site: Our Site may contain advertisements, references and links to other web sites and organizations. We may also use third parties to display or serve advertising on the Site and our web-based newsletters. Often these third party advertising companies employ cookie and web bug technologies to measure advertising effectiveness. You should be aware that different rules may apply to the collection, use or disclosure of your information by third parties in connection with their advertisements, promotions and other web sites you encounter on the Internet. The use of such technology by these third parties is within their control and not ours, and even if we have a relationship with the third party, we do not control those sites or their policies and practices regarding your information and we encourage you to investigate and ask questions directly of them in this regard.

Disclosure to Third Parties: Except as described in this Privacy Statement, mtvU uses good faith efforts not to provide third parties with access to your personally identifiable information. We will, however, make your personally identifiable information available to others:

  • When we have your consent (you "opt in") to do so, in which case their use of your information is subject to their own privacy policies;
  • When we have retained companies to work with or on behalf of mtvU to provide Products, goods or services that you have requested;
  • When you use co-branded services - in which case you are giving us permission to pass any personally identifiable information you provide in the context of our co-branding and marketing relationship, back to our co-branding partner. Their use of your information is subject to their own privacy policies;
  • When we are compelled to do so by a governmental agency, court or other entity (e.g., to respond to subpoenas, court orders or legal process);
  • if we believe your actions violate any law, regulation, our Terms of Use or any of our guidelines for promotions, Product offerings or any other features or functions of the Site, or if you threaten the rights, property or safety of mtvU, its suppliers, advertisers, other customers or users, or any other party;
  • as and when we, in our sole discretion, believe such disclosure to be necessary or appropriate to investigate or resolve possible problems or inquiries, to protect our business and assets, to defend our interests and/or to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; or
  • in the event of a bankruptcy, or a merger, acquisition, joint venture or other business combination involving us. It is also possible that third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications.

We do not sell or market your personally identifiable information to unaffiliated organizations.

Some of the aggregate customer data we collect may be shared with advertising companies, multiple system operators and other business partners of MTVN, but we do not give any personally identifiable information to them as part of the relationship except as described above. Use of their tracking technology is subject to their own privacy policies. For more information about these third party servers and how to "opt out" of the ad serving cookie, please click here.

Communications from Us: If you provide us with your e-mail address, we may occasionally send you an e-mail. You may "opt out" of receiving e-mails from us by replying to one of our e-mails with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

Summary: Our privacy guidelines are designed to ensure that we:

  • collect and use your personally identifiable information only as necessary to deliver high quality service, to administer our business and to let you know of goods and services that are available from our family of companies;
  • protect the personally identifiable information the Site's users share with us, maintaining strict standards of security and confidentiality. In this regard we even limit access by our own employees to those individuals who are trained and advised in the proper handling of such information and any employee found violating our standards of security and confidentiality will be subject to our disciplinary processes;
  • not disclose your personally identifiable information to any external organization, except as we have described in this Privacy Statement or unless we have previously obtained your consent ("opt in");
  • require any other organization that we retain or engage to provide services for us, to conform to our privacy standards and to allow us to audit them for compliance;
  • exchange information about you and carry out credit approvals or checks necessary for your purchases of Products from us, to prevent fraud and any other activities we may be required to monitor and report under applicable laws and regulations; and
  • make every effort to keep your personally identifiable information complete, up to date, and accurate based on the information you provide us.

Sole Statement: This privacy statement is the sole statement of mtvU's privacy policy with respect to the Site, and no summary, restatement or other version thereof, or other privacy statement or policy, in any form, including, without limitation, machine-generated, is valid.

Copyright 2005 © MTV Networks On Campus Inc., a division of Viacom International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.