Introduction
Sling Media, Inc. ("Sling") respects your privacy. This Privacy Statement applies to your use of www.sling.com and the Sling-branded products (such as the Slingbox) used in connection with such website (collectively, "Sling Products"). This Privacy Statement explains what information we collect through the Sling Products, how we use that information, and what choices you have.
The Sling Products may contain links to other web sites. This Privacy Statement does not apply to the practices of any company or individual that Sling does not control, or any web sites or services that you link to from the Sling Products. You should use caution and review the privacy policies of any web sites or services that you visit from ours to learn more about their information practices.
Please take a few moments to read this Privacy Statement. By accessing the Sling Products, you agree to accept the terms and conditions of this Privacy Statement and are aware that our policies may evolve in the future as indicated below.
What information we collect
In various places in connection with Sling Products, we collect “Personally Identifiable Information,” such as your name, postal address, telephone number, email address, or other information that can be used to identify you or contact you. For example, we collect this information when you sign up for our email newsletter, purchase, register or configure a Sling hardware product, register for a Sling account, enter a sweepstakes or participate in promotions. From time to time in the future we may offer additional features, services and promotional opportunities that would require you to submit Personally Identifiable Information to participate.
We also collect “Anonymous Information,” which cannot on its own be used to identify you or contact you. Anonymous Information includes your age, your IP address, your ZIP code, your Media Access Control (MAC) address, your SlingFinder ID, the name you assigned to your Slingbox, the hardware, firmware and/or software version of your Sling Product (as applicable), the number and type of video sources used with your Slingbox, the duration of your uses of Sling Products, the type of Internet browser you use, your activity on Sling websites that you visit, the identity of your broadcast television provider, the search terms that you enter, the advertisements that you click and the number and frequency of users of Sling Products. Anonymous Information also includes information that was originally Personally Identifiable Information that subsequently is used in aggregated form.
“Personally Identifiable Product Information” means Anonymous Information that is associated with your Personally Identifiable Information. For example, we track and store your Sling.com activity in an effort to provide quality content recommendations for you (though personally identifiable activity will not be shared with anyone, except with your consent).
We also use “cookies” to collect information when you visit our website. A cookie is a small data file that we transfer to your computer and is stored on your hard drive. When you visit our websites the cookie identifies your computer to us. We also use cookies to measure the traffic to our website and its different services and features.
We do not intend that children will use the Sling Products. We do not solicit or knowingly collect information from children under 13 years old, nor will we knowingly accept registration from them.
How we use the information we collect
We use Personally Identifiable Information (including Personally Identifiable Product Information) to respond to your requests for information, products or services, charge you for products and services you have purchased or engage in other transactions you have completed, customize the content you see, conduct research and communicate with you about our offerings. For example, we use your email address to communicate with you about new products and services and exclude you from offers for products and services you may already have.
We use Anonymous Information to determine how people use the Sling Products, to generate demographic profiles of our users, for other programming or advertising research, to help with the investigation of technical issues with our products and systems, and for other legitimate business purposes. For example this data tells us how often users click on our advertisements, which files are downloaded most frequently, and which components or areas of Sling Products are the most popular. Analyzing this data allows us to improve the offerings on and performance of Sling Products.
How we share information
We disclose Anonymous Information, and analyses derived therefrom, to third parties including advertisers, broadcasters, consumer and market research companies and other organizations.
Third-Party Service Providers: We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. This may include fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, providing search results and links (including paid listings and links), processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. They have access to information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
Protection of Sling or Others: We will disclose Personally Identifiable Information as required by law, or if in our judgment it is necessary to protect Sling or our employees or users from harm, loss or liability. However, this does not include selling, renting, sharing, or otherwise disclosing Personally Identifiable Information for commercial purposes in violation of the commitments set forth in this Privacy Statement.
Affiliates and Business Transfers: Sling may share your information with any parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under a common control with Sling. In such event, Sling will require those parties to honor this Privacy Statement. If we merge with or are acquired by another company or we sell substantially all of our assets, the acquiror or resulting company will receive and may continue to use your information as described in this Privacy Statement. In the unlikely event we cease operation or enter bankruptcy, your information may be transferred to and used by another company that acquires our assets or offers similar or related products or services. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any such acquiror or successor may continue to use your information as set forth in this Privacy Statement.
With Your Further Consent: Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when your Personally Identifiable Information might go to third parties, and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.
Personally Identifiable Information you can access
We allow you to access certain information about you for the purpose of viewing and/or updating that information. This list will change as Sling Products change. You may currently view and/or update this information from the user profile and user preferences portions of the applicable Sling Products.
What choices you have
You can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to make a purchase or to take advantage of certain Sling Product features.
When you register for certain Sling Products, you have the option of checking a box to tell us that you do not want us to send you any information about our products and services, or that you do not want to receive information from our partners and others about products and services that might interest you. We will keep track of your decision in our database. Even if you choose not to receive information from us, we reserve the right to communicate with you on matters we consider especially important. Further, please note that if you do not want to receive legal notices from us, such as this Privacy Statement, those legal notices will still govern your use of the Sling Products, and you are responsible for reviewing such legal notices for changes.
You are able to add or update certain information on pages, such as those listed in the “Personally Identifiable Information you can access” section above. When you update information, however, we often maintain a copy of the unrevised information in our records.
You may adjust certain privacy settings regarding your Sling account from the user profile and user preferences portions of the applicable Sling Products.
You may delete your Sling account by contacting customer support. Please note that some information may remain in our records after deletion of your account.
If you do not want Sling to collect Personally Identifiable Product Information with respect to your use of the Web-based SlingPlayer, you may use the downloadable SlingPlayer application (available at http://downloads.slingmedia.com/).
The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the Web site of its manufacturer. However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some Sling Product features, we recommend that you leave them turned on.
Postings
If you use our bulletin boards, post user comments regarding content available through the Sling Products, or engage in similar activity, please remember that anything you post is publicly available. Portions of your user profile will also be available to other users of our websites.
Security
During sessions in which you give us information such as credit card numbers, we encrypt your transmissions using SSL (“Secure Sockets Layer”) and other security technology. This is designed to guard against interception of the information while it is on the Internet. We keep the Personally Identifiable Information you provide on servers that are protected by firewalls and other technological means against intrusion or unauthorized access. They are located in a physically secure facility, however, there is no such thing as “perfect security” on the Internet. We rely on you to select passwords that cannot be guessed easily and to safeguard those passwords from disclosure. Please contact us if you have any information regarding unauthorized use of the Sling Products.
Changes to this Privacy Statement
We may make changes to this Privacy Statement from time to time for any reason. You will be bound by any changes to the Privacy Statement when you use Sling Products after notice of such changes. Use of information we collect is subject to the Privacy Statement in effect at the time such information is used. The latest version of this Privacy Statement will be available at http://www.sling.com/info/privacy_policy.
Entire Agreement
This Privacy Statement constitutes the entire agreement, and replaces and supersedes all prior agreements, between you and Sling concerning the subject matter discussed in this Privacy Statement.
Effective Date
The Effective Date of this Privacy Statement is November 24, 2008.
