About ROBLOX
ROBLOX is an online virtual world and building game for kids. ROBLOX works like
this:
• a user creates a virtual character, that is his or her identity in the ROBLOX
world
• users interact with other users through in-game chat, personal messaging (site
contained), and user forums; privacy settings allow users or parents to restrict
communications with other users
• each user is given one or more pieces of virtual real estate on which they can
build houses, cars, machines, or anything else you can build with building blocks;
these places are called “games”
• users search for, find, and play games made by other users; they play these games
with other users from around the world, and are identified only by their virtual
character name
• users earn tickets and/or ROBUX, our virtual currency; users earn these in a variety
of ways, and use them to buy items for their characters, including virtual hats,
shirts, and pants; users can also sell these items, earning tickets and/or ROBUX
• users can purchase premium services, including: Builder’s Club, a monthly subscription
that grants the user more virtual places and a daily allowance, among other things;
and, ROBUX currency, allowing users to buy virtual currency that can in turn be
used to buy virtual goods
Requested Information
ROBLOX users may play as guests; in this mode, users remain anonymous and interact
with the website and game in Menu Chat Mode – no free chat, no personal messaging
to or from users, no posting to the forums, and other restrictions designed to prevent
users from sharing personal information, intentional or otherwise. As guests, users
are unable to save play statistics, accumulate points, share models, or participate
in our virtual economy.
Users wishing to save statistics, share models, and participate in the economy are
required to enter a username and password. We advise users to create a username
that does not reflect their own name nor reveal personally identifiable information.
We also advise users to pick a password that is not easy to guess, and to not share
that password. For security reasons, we store passwords in encrypted form.
Registered users who are under 13 initially play in Menu Chat Mode. To opt-in to
free (but filtered) text communications, users are required to provide and verify
a parent’s email address. We use this information to inform parents that their child
has signed up to use our service; we also use this information to obtain consent
from the parent regarding their child’s continued use of the site. The verification
email we send informs parents of their child’s registration with ROBLOX and provides
access to a parental control panel (parent’s may also create parental controls at
any time). Under-13 users who do not enter a parent’s email address or who fail
to verify one remain in Privacy Mode. Registered users who are 13 or older can opt-in
to Privacy Mode, but begin with it turned off.
Regardless of security and privacy settings, all text on the site is filtered proactively
to remove references to addresses, emails, phone numbers, age, and other personally
identifiable information. All text is also filtered for profanity, phishing, and
adult or suggestive content. Our system is a combination human and automated processes;
like all filtering technology, our processes are not 100% effective.
Users wishing to purchase Builder’s Club or ROBUX are required to enter billing
information, including name, billing address, credit card or PayPal number, and
billing email. For children under 13, we request the parent’s billing information.
Billing information is retained to support customer service inquiries, but we do
not retain the full credit card number.
If you (or your child) choose to use our referral service to tell a friend about
our site, we will ask you for your friend’s name and email address. We will automatically
send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the site; ROBLOX
does not store this information.
We do not collect any Personal Information from children only username and password.
We do not ask for and collect from a kid under 13 personally identifiable information
that is reasonably necessary for that kid to participate in any given activity online
Collected Information
ROBLOX uses a software technology called “cookies.” Cookies are small text files
that we place in visitors’ computer browsers to store their preferences. These cookies
do not store personally identifiable information. For account security purposes,
we may store a cookie that contains the encrypted user password; the original password
cannot be recovered by hackers. Users who disable cookies in their browsers will
not be able to logon to the ROBLOX website or play the ROBLOX game.
We also use cookies and “clear gifs” (on-page tracking code) to track user entry
onto and movement within the ROBLOX website. This helps us credit advertisers appropriately,
and measure the health and effectiveness of our website. For example, we use tracking
to determine if new page designs are user friendly or too complicated. Our tracking
approach is industry standard, and includes non-personally identifiable information
such as IP address, browser type, and date/time.
Additionally, when visitors come to our site, we automatically collect some non-personally
identifiable “computer” information, such as the type of computer operating system
(e.g., Windows 95 or Mac OS), the web browser (e.g., Netscape, Internet Explorer)
being used, IP address, and information regarding the Internet service provider.
This information is used to provide technical and community support.
We also collect performance data from within ROBLOX Studio or the ROBLOX Player.
We use this data retrospectively to improve the user experience of our games. This
information includes in-game networking activity, CPU load, and resource usage,
among other relevant data.
Some of our business partners (e.g., advertisers) use cookies on our site. We have
no access to or control over these cookies. This privacy statement covers the use
of cookies by ROBLOX (www.roblox.com) only and does not cover the use of cookies
by any advertisers.
Information Sharing
We pass user billing information on to PayPal, our transaction processing partner.
This is done for all payment types, including credit card and PayPal payments. For
recurring monthly transactions, PayPal retains the credit card authorization on
file, but we do not. All transactions are processed by PayPal.
We share aggregate web activity data, such as page views and unique visitor counts,
with our advertising partners. No personally identifiable information is shared.
We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required
by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or
comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Web
site.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, we also may disclose personally identifiable
information in response to a law enforcement agency's or other public agency's (including
schools or children services) request or if we feel that such disclosure may prevent
the instigation of a crime, facilitate an investigation related to public safety
or protect the safety of a child using our website, protect the security or integrity
of our website, or enable us to take precautions against liability.
We will not use or transfer personally identifiable information in ways that are
materially different from the ones described above without also providing parental
notification of such practices and obtaining consent for any materially different
uses.
Security & Privacy
The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive
information (such as credit card number) on our registration or order forms, we
encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).
We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information
submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission
over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore,
while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information,
we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If you use a bulletin board, blog, or chat room on this Web site, you should be
aware that any personally identifiable information you submit there can be read,
collected, or used by other users of these forums, and could be used to send you
unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the personally identifiable information
you choose to submit in these forums.
Options for Parents
Parents can set up a parental control panel to manage the privacy settings of their
children. If a child enters a parent’s email address during signup, the parent receives
an email notification of the account creation and an invitation to establish a control
panel for that account. Parents can also create a control panel at any time and
attach it to a child’s existing account.
A parent receiving a verification email has three options. First, the parent can
choose not to respond; in this case, the child remains in Menu Chat Mode. Second,
the parent can choose to click the link in the email and do nothing more; in this
case, the child is opted-in to free (but filtered) text communications, including
free-text chat and personal messaging (site limited), forum posts, and site commentary.
Third, the parent can choose to click the link in the email and then create a parental
control account; in this case, the parent can set fine-grained security and privacy
options.
Parents can close a child’s account by contacting ROBLOX customer service (see below).
This hides the account from all other ROBLOX users and outside parties. The account
data is not deleted, but retained internally for three purposes. Billing information
and transaction histories are retained to resolve subsequent billing disputes and
inquiries. Public domain content is retained for use by the community – e.g. a virtual
shirt sold by the child to another user is kept in the system because the recipient
now “owns” a copy of that article. Finally, user account history is retained to
support subsequent customer service inquiries. All retained data for a closed account
is private and visible only to employees.
Updating/Accessing/Amending/Correcting Personally Identifiable Information
If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire
our service, you may correct, update, amend, or deactivate it by making the change
on our member information page (or by emailing our Customer Support at info@roblox.com)
or by contacting us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed
below.
TRUSTe Children’s Online Privacy Seal Program
ROBLOX is a licensee of the TRUSTe Children’s Online Privacy Seal Program. TRUSTe
is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build user’s trust
and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices.
This privacy statement covers the site www.roblox.com. Because this Web site wants
to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information
practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.
If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact
the ROBLOX Privacy Manager at (888) 858-BLOX. If you do not receive acknowledgement
of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should
contact TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php. TRUSTe
will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.
The TRUSTe Children’s Online Privacy Seal Program covers only Personal Information
that is collected through this Web site, and does not cover Personal Information
that may be collected through software downloaded from this site.
Privacy Policy Changes
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy
statement, the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware
of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if
any, we disclose it.
We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review
it frequently. If we make material changes to how we use Personal Information regarding
parents. We will notify you by email in order to obtain verifiable parental consent
for the new uses of the child’s Personal Information.
Contact Information
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding our privacy policy and/or
practices, please contact us at the following e-mail address, telephone number,
or address:
ROBLOX Privacy Manager
(888) 858-BLOX
info@roblox.com
600 Allerton Street, Suite 102
Redwood City, CA 94063
Glossary of Terms
Privacy
Private Play Mode – users in this mode cannot free-chat, send or receive personal
messages to or from other users, post to forums, or edit any free-text field
Communications
Personal Messaging – user-to-user and ROBLOX-to-user messaging inside the ROBLOX
website
In-Game Chat – user-to-user messaging inside the ROBLOX game client
Forums – user and staff collaborative help and interest forums
Wiki – user and staff collaborative help and tutorial pages
Moderation
Text Filtering – all user-generated text is pre-filtered for inappropriate content
Text Filtering Black List – list of inappropriate keywords and word patterns
Image Moderation – all images are pre-filtered by human moderators
Abuse Reports – all users and content can be reported for abuse or inappropriateness
Relevant Dates
Effective Date – February 12, 2009
Last Updated – February 12, 2009