Sony Electronics Inc.
Effective: June 2001
Last Update: August 2006
Your Privacy
At Sony, we believe you have a right to know what type of information we may
collect when you interact with us and our practices with respect to that
information. The guidelines contained herein apply only to information collected
by or for Sony Electronics Inc. and the entities it controls (collectively, "SEL").
This includes, among other things, websites operated by or for SEL, most of
which contain "sel.sony.com" or "sonystyle.com" in their URLs. Sites which are
linked to/from these sites (including sites of other Sony affiliated companies
(e.g., Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer
Entertainment America) and via banner ads may have different policies;
therefore, please review the privacy policy notices on those sites for details.
While SEL does not generally require that you provide us with personally
identifiable information (for example, in order to visit and use the SEL sites),
please note that in order to participate in some activities, it will be
necessary for you to provide this information. If you choose not to provide it
for those activities, you may not be able to participate in them.
[Notice to California Residents - Your California Privacy Rights: If you are a
California resident, you have the right to receive: a) information identifying
any third party company(ies) to whom Sony Electronics Inc. may have disclosed,
within the past year, personal information pertaining to you and your family for
that company's direct marketing purposes; and b) a description of the categories
of personal information disclosed. To obtain such information, please email your
request to Privacy@am.sony.com.]
Collection of Information:
For each visitor to an SEL Web site, SEL's Web server automatically recognizes,
collects and/or stores information such as the visitor's IP address/Domain name
combination and any referring sites. SEL may use several technologies to
accomplish this. Examples of such technologies are cookies and Web beacons.
When you visit SEL's Web sites or advertisements appearing thereon, or use one
or more of the SEL Web site services, or receive emails from SEL we may use an
industry-wide technology called "cookies" which stores certain information on
your computer and which will allow us to customize your experience to better
match your interests and preferences or to simply facilitate your signing in to
use the services. Most browsers will allow you to erase cookies from your
computer hard drive, block acceptance of cookies, or receive a warning before a
cookie is stored. However, if you block or erase cookies, we may not be able to
restore any preferences or customization settings you previously specified and
our ability to personalize your online experience would be limited. Please refer
to your browser instructions or "help" screen to learn more about these
functions. SEL may also itself use, or engage third parties to use, Web beacons
for researching certain usage and activities on our Web site. The information
collected by SEL or requested from third parties through these Web beacons is in
an aggregate, non- individually identifiable form and is used to find out more
about users including demographic information and usage patterns for more
accurate reporting and to improve the effectiveness of our marketing. SEL may
also itself use, or engage third parties to use, pixel tags or other technology
to research or track your usage activities with respect to emails from us.
SEL may ask you to provide "personal information", meaning individually
identifiable information such as your email address, name, mailing address,
telephone number, social security number, credit card number, or persistent
identifier (such as a customer number held in a cookie) which is associated with
individually identifiable information, to enable you to participate in contests,
chat rooms, on bulletin boards, to fill out a registration, or to order products
and services using these sites. SEL may combine the information you provide on
our Web sites with information we may collect offline from you or from third
parties so that we can more effectively tailor our site, services and offerings
to you.
SEL will not share the personal information you provide with any other parties,
except (a) to other affiliated Sony companies (i.e., (i) Sony Corporation, (ii)
any company of which 50% or more of its outstanding shares are owned by Sony
Corporation, directly or indirectly, and (iii) any company with the name "SONY"
as a part of its trade name) who may want to contact you about products,
services or other offerings that may be of interest to you (SEL and such
affiliates being collectively referred to as "Sony"), (b) with your consent (see
paragraph below), (c) as may be required by law or court order, (d) to persons
or companies with whom SEL engages to carry out or provide support for the
operations of the sites or our business, or (e) to appropriate third parties,
including law enforcement or other government agencies, in connection with a
criminal investigation, fraud prevention, or other legal action or if SEL
reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to protect SEL, its customers, or
the public.
Unless you instruct us otherwise, SEL may contact you to provide information
about products, services, promotions, contests, or other activities or offerings
that may be of interest to you. You can instruct us whether or not you wish to
be contacted by checking or unchecking the box indicating your preference, as
applicable, at the place where your information is collected. In addition, with
each communication you receive from SEL, you will be given the opportunity to
indicate if you do not wish to receive future communications from the company.
You can also click below to adjust your communication preferences:
* To opt out of information related to consumer products,
click here.
* To opt out of information related to professional products,
click here.
With your consent, SEL may share your personal information with third parties
outside of the Sony group of companies who may want to contact you about
products, services or other offerings that may be of interest to you. Each of
these companies may have their own privacy policies. SEL will seek to obtain
your consent at the place where the information is collected either by an
"opt-out" or "opt-in" method, or by other means (such as an email request). If
you consent to receiving communications from any of these third parties, you
will need to communicate with them directly if you later decide that you no
longer wish to receive their communications. If you wish to withdraw your
consent from any further sharing of your personal information with third
parties, you may do so by clicking here and providing the requested information.
For instructions on how to request changes to the personal information you have
provided to SEL, please send an email to: Privacy@am.sony.com or write to us at:
Sony Electronics Inc.
Personal Information Management Office
1 Sony Drive, MD 1E4
Park Ridge, New Jersey 07656
Use and Disclosure of Anonymous Aggregated Information
SEL may also collect, aggregate and maintain anonymous information about you,
such as your hobbies, interests, purchasing habits, music preferences, and the
like. This data can then be used to tailor SEL's promotions, advertising, and
communications to deliver a better experience for you. SEL may also share such
aggregate information with advertisers, business partners, sponsors, and other
third parties; for example, to inform them about the percentage of male/female
visitors to our site or the percentage of visitors within a particular age
range.
Security
SEL takes great care in maintaining the security of your personal information
and in preventing unauthorized access to it through the use of appropriate
technology and internal procedures. However, SEL does not guarantee that
unauthorized access will never occur.
Notice To/Regarding Children Under the Age of 13
SEL believes that children using the Internet require special protection, and we
urge parents or guardians to explain Internet safety to their children. Parents
are urged to spend time online with their children to become familiar with the
types of content available on the SEL sites and the Internet in general. Control
tools are available from online services and software manufacturers to help
create a safer environment for children.
If you are under 13 years of age, you should not provide any personally
identifiable information (for example, your last name, home address or e-mail
address) on these sites without the knowledge and permission of your parent or
guardian. If SEL learns that you are under 13 years of age, SEL will not
maintain or use any personally identifiable information about you without the
verifiable consent of your parent or guardian, except as allowed by law. This
may mean that you will be unable to participate in some activities on the sites
without that verifiable consent. If a child under 13 years of age wishes to
participate in any SEL Web site activity, or wishes to take advantage of a
product or service offering available to children, and to do so necessitates the
furnishing of any of the child's personal information, please note the
following:
(i) The name, address, telephone number, and email address of the operator
collecting or maintaining personal information from children through this Web
site are as follows:
Sony Electronics Inc.
1 Sony Drive, MD 1E4
Park Ridge, New Jersey 07656
Telephone: 201-930-4800
e-mail address: Privacy@am.sony.com
(ii) The types of personal information collected from children may include the
name, email address, home address, telephone number and/or any other information
reasonably necessary for the child to participate in a particular activity. This
information may be collected directly and/or passively (e.g., through a web
server that automatically recognizes and stores information such as a visitor's
IP address/domain name combination).
(iii) The information collected may be used for purposes such as fulfillment of
a requested transaction, record keeping, marketing back to the child, or making
it publicly available through a chat room or by other means.
(iv) Unless specific consent is obtained from the child's parent or guardian,
the child's personal information will not be disclosed to third parties who are
not contractors hired to carry out the internal operations of the Web sites,
other than as may be required or permitted by law. We have required, or will
require, such contractors to agree to use personal information of site visitors
only for the purposes of carrying out these operations and to keep such
information confidential. A parent or guardian has the option of consenting to
the collection and use of the child's personal information without consenting to
the disclosure of that information to third parties.
(v) SEL is prohibited from conditioning a child's participation in an activity
on the child's disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary
to participate in such activity; and
(vi) A parent can review and have deleted the child's personal information, can
refuse to permit further collection or use of the child's information, and can
revoke or limit consents previously given. For instructions on how to do so,
please send an email to:
Privacy@am.sony.com or write to us at:
Sony Electronics Inc.
Personal Information Management Office
1 Sony Drive
MD 1E4
Park Ridge, New Jersey 07656
Except as permitted by law, before any collection of a child's personal
information takes place at a Web site directed to children or where SEL is
knowingly collecting children's personal information, the child will be asked to
provide his/her parent's or guardian's e-mail address so that SEL can contact
the child's parent or guardian. SEL will then send an email (the "Initial
Notification") to the parent/guardian indicating, among other things, the
information that the child is requested to provide, the intended use(s) of the
information and information on how the parent/guardian can, at their election,
delete the child's information from SEL's database or records. Upon receipt of
the Initial Notification, a parent or guardian may respond back to SEL to grant
his/her consent or to deny consent in which case SEL will delete the parent or
guardian's email address and any other personal information, if any, previously
obtained for securing parental consent. Upon SEL's receipt of the
parent/guardian consent, SEL will send a confirming email to the
parent/guardian's email address or take such other action as may be required to
verify the consent.
If SEL desires to use a child's information for purposes other than that for
which the parent/guardian consent was previously given, SEL will not do so
without first getting the parent/guardian consent.
Consent to Processing:
By providing any personal information to SEL Sites, all persons, including
without limitation persons in the member states of the European Union, fully
understand and unambiguously consent to the collection and processing of such
information in the United States of America.
Policy Governs Use: Changes to Privacy Policy
The terms of this policy will govern the use and any information collected while
it is in place. SEL reserves the right to change this policy at any time, so
please re-visit this page as often as you wish. In case of any material change,
we will change the "Last Update Date" in this privacy policy and/or post a
notice on the site. Changes to this privacy policy are effective as of the
stated "Last Update Date" and your continued use of this site on or after the
"Last Update Date" will constitute acceptance of, and agreement to be bound by,
those changes.
Questions: