HANDCENT CORPORATION (HK) LIMITED ("Handcent Talk") recognizes that its customers, visitors and users, want to know what's up with privacy. Handcent provides this Privacy Policy to help you make an informed decision about whether to use or continue using the Handcent Site, Handcent Software and/or the Handcent Service. If you do not agree to our practices, please do not use the Handcent Site, Handcent Software,or Handcent Service.
This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to the Handcent Terms of Service. Your use of the Handcent Site, Handcent Software and the Handcent Service and any personal information you provide on the Handcent Site or Handcent Service remains subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service.
Please note that any Status Submissions or other content posted at the direction or discretion of users of the Handcent Service becomes published content and is not considered personally identifiable information subject to this Privacy Policy.
What Does This Privacy Policy Cover?
This Privacy Policy is part of Handcent’s Terms of Service and covers the treatment of user information, including personally identifying information, obtained by Handcent Talk, including information obtained when you access the Handcent’s Site, use the Handcent Service or any other software provided by Handcent.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that Handcent does not own or control, or to individuals whom Handcent does not employ or manage, including any of the third parties to which Handcent may disclose user information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.
The Information Handcent Collects
Handcent Talk may obtain the following types of information from or concerning you or your mobile phone device, which may include information that can be used to identify you as specified below (“Personally Identifying Information”) :
A. User Provided Information: You provide certain Personally Identifiable Information, such as your mobile phone number, push notification name (if applicable), billing information (if applicable) and mobile device information to Handcent when choosing to participate in various uses of the Handcent Service, such as registering as a user, updating your status or requesting status for your contacts. In order to provide the Handcent Service, Handcent Talk will periodically access your address book or contact list on your mobile phone to locate the mobile phone numbers of other Handcent users (“in-network” numbers), or otherwise categorize other mobile phone numbers as “out-network” numbers, which are stored as one-way irreversibly hashed values.
B. Cookies Information: When you visit the Handcent Site, we may send one or more cookies - a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters - to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. Handcent uses both session cookies and persistent cookies. A persistent cookie remains after you close your browser. Persistent cookies may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser help file directions. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, the Handcent Site may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled.
C. Log File Information: When you use the Handcent Site, our servers automatically record certain information that your web browser sends whenever you visit any website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, browser language, referring / exit pages and URLs, platform type, number of clicks, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed and the order of those pages, the amount of time spent on particular pages, the date and time of your request, one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser, your phone number, phone number you are requesting the status of and various status information. When you use the Handcent Service, our servers log certain general information that our application sends whenever a message is sent or received, or if you update or request any status information, including time and date stamps and the mobile phone numbers the messages were sent from and to.
The Information Handcent Does Not Collect
Handcent Talk does not collect names, addresses or other contact information from its users’ mobile address book or contact lists other than mobile phone numbers and emails—the Handcent application will associate whatever name the Handcent user has assigned to the mobile telephone number in his/her mobile address book or contact list — and this occurs dynamically on the mobile device itself and not on Handcent’s servers and is not transmitted to Handcent Talk. This means that if you have your friend’s mobile phone number or email associated with the name “A” in your mobile address book, that’s the name that will appear for that mobile phone number in your Handcent Talk contact list. We do not collect location data, but users may voluntarily share their location with other users via the Handcent Service. If you want to use "Location" feature to share your currunt position and designated locations to your friends, Handcent talk will use the phone's Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities to get the data.
The contents of messages that have been delivered by the Handcent Talk are not copied, kept or archived by Handcent in the normal course of business. The Handcent Talk is meant to be a SMS replacement, using data service through a user’s phone (either via cell network or wifi). Users type their messages, which are sent via data service to our servers, and routed to the intended recipient (who must also be a Handcent Talk user), if that recipient is online. If the recipient is not online, the undelivered message is held in Handcent’s server until it can be delivered. If the message is undelivered for thirty (30) days, the undelivered message is deleted from our servers. Once a message has been delivered, it no longer resides on our servers. The contents of any delivered messages are not kept or retained by Handcent — the only records of the content of any delivered messages reside directly on the sender’s and recipient’s mobile devices (and which may be deleted at the user’s option). Notwithstanding the above, Handcent Talk may retain date and time stamp information associated with successfully delivered messages and the mobile phone numbers involved in the messages, as well as any other information which Handcent Talk is legally compelled to collect. Files that are sent through the Handcent Service will reside on our servers after delivery for a short period of time, but are deleted and stripped of any identifiable information within a short period of time in accordance with our general retention policies.
The Way Handcent Uses Information
If you submit Personally Identifiable Information to us through the Handcent Site, or Handcent Service, then we use your personal information to operate, maintain, and provide to you the features and functionality of the Handcent Site and Handcent Service. In particular, your mobile phone number is essential to your use of the Handcent Service and will be retained. Any billing information that may be collected from you will be deleted thirty (30) days after the termination of your account with Handcent. Any Personally Identifiable Information or status content that you voluntarily disclose on the Handcent Service becomes publicly available and may be collected and used by other users of the Handcent Service (unless such user is blocked by you). Your name (as it is saved in other user's mobile phone address book or contact list) may be displayed to other users when you update your status messages through the Handcent Service and other users may contact you through the Handcent Service. We do not use your mobile phone number or other Personally Identifiable Information to send commercial or marketing messages without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may, however, use your mobile phone number (or email address, if provided) without further consent for non-marketing or administrative purposes (such as notifying you of major Hnadcent Site or Handcent Service changes or for customer service purposes). We may use both your Personally Identifiable Information and certain non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous user usage data, cookies, IP addresses, browser type, clickstream data, etc.) to improve the quality and design of the Handcent Site and Handcent Service and to create new features, promotions, functionality, and services by storing, tracking, and analyzing user preferences and trends. Hopefully we improve the Handcent Site and Service and don't make it suck worse. We may use cookies and log file information to: (a) remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you use the Handcent Service or Handcent Site; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) monitor individual and aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, pages viewed, etc.; and (d) track your entries, submissions, views and such.
When Handcent Discloses Information
Other users of the Handcent Service may see your Status Submissions in a way that is consistent with the use of the Handcent Service. If another user has your mobile phone number stored in their mobile phone address book or contact list, they will be able see your status information unless you have chosen to block such user. We do not sell or share your Personally Identifiable Information (such as mobile phone number) with other third-party companies for their commercial or marketing use without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may share your Personally Identifiable Information with third party service providers to the extent that it is reasonably necessary to perform, improve or maintain the Handcent Service. We may share non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous User usage data, referring / exit pages and URLs, platform types, asset views, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third-parties to assist them in understanding the usage patterns for certain content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the Handcent Site. We may collect and release Personally Identifiable Information and/or non-personally-identifiable information if required to do so by law, or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal laws, international law or respond to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant or equivalent, or where in our reasonable belief, an individual’s physical safety may be at risk or threatened. Handcent Talk also reserves the right to disclose Personally Identifiable Information and/or non-personally-identifiable information that Handcent believes, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to enforce our Terms of Service, take precautions against liability, to investigate and defend itself against any third-party claims or allegations, to assist government enforcement agencies, to protect the security or integrity of the Handcent Site or our servers, and to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Handcent, our users or others.
Your Choices
You may, of course, decline to submit Personally Identifiable Information through the Handcent Site or the Handcent Service, in which case Handcent may not be able to provide certain services to you. If you do not agree with our Privacy Policy or Terms of Service, please delete your account, uninstall the Handcent Talk and discontinue use of the Handcent Service; your continued usage of the Handcent Service will signify your assent to and acceptance of our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps to verify your identity before registering your mobile phone number and granting you access to the Handcent Service.
Changes and updates to this Privacy Notice
This Privacy Policy may be revised periodically and this will be reflected by the "effective date" below. Please revisit this page to stay aware of any changes. Your continued use of the Handcent Site and Handcent Service constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any amendments.
Date Last Modified:
This Privacy Notice was last modified September 21st, 2012
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