Renee Bird

Net 213 Online Policy Primer

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Terms of Use Agreement.

When you registered to play EVONY, did you read the Terms of Use Agreement? http://www.evony.com/index.do?PageModule=Static&type=TandC

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Terms of Use Agreement.

If not you missed out on some really important information.

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Terms of Use Agreement.

Sections of the Agreement discussed in this presentation will deal with:

Registration eligibilityPrivacySecurityAccount suspension or termination.

Topics Discussed.

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Terms of Use Agreement.

To be eligible to register for EVONY you must be over 13 years old. You can agree to

the Terms of Use for yourself and up to 3 children under your care that use the same account. (EVONY Terms of Use Agreement,

2009)

Registration Eligibility

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Terms of Use Agreement.

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Terms of Use Agreement.

The reason that an adult is required to register is because EVONY is an American

website and a valid email address is required as part of the registration

process.

Registration Eligibility

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Terms of Use Agreement.

In America the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act does not permit personally

identifiable information to be collected from a child under 13 years old. This includes an email address. (COPPA -Children’s Online

Privacy Protection Act, 1998)

Registration Eligibility

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Terms of Use Agreement.

The problem with this condition is that age is not validated in any way during the

registration process.

Registration Eligibility

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Terms of Use Agreement.

In fact if the Terms of Use Agreement was not read you would not even know that you

needed to be an adult to register.

Registration Eligibility

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Terms of Use Agreement.

“REGAN MERCANTILE US, LLC MAY MONITOR, RECORD, REVIEW, MODIFY

AND/OR DISCLOSE YOUR CHAT SESSIONS, WHETHER VOICE OR TEXT, WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU, AND YOU HEREBY CONSENT TO SUCH MONITORING,

RECORDING, REVIEW, MODIFICATION AND/OR DISCLOSURE.” (EVONY Terms of

Use Agreement, 2009)

Privacy

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Terms of Use Agreement.

While the Terms of Use Agreement admits to recording chat sessions it does not disclose how long this information is

retained for. In fact the chat sessions could be stored indefinitely.

Privacy

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Terms of Use Agreement.

The Terms of Use Agreement also does not declare the reasons for monitoring chat

sessions, or who they release this information to.

Privacy

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Terms of Use Agreement.

As a child is able to play on an account that a parent has registered, it is possible that

personally identifiable information could be collected from a minor when monitoring

chat.

Privacy

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Terms of Use Agreement.

As collecting personal information from a minor is not permitted. (COPPA -Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, 1998) How does Regan Mercantile US, LLC determine that they have recorded information from a

minor?

Privacy

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Terms of Use Agreement.

As chat information in EVONY is collected and kept for an indeterminate time this data could become both searchable and

permanent (Lessing ,1998). This constitutes a risk to personal privacy.

Privacy

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Terms of Use Agreement.

“WHEN RUNNING, THE GAME MAY MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER'S RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) AND/OR CPU

PROCESSES FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS RUNNING

CONCURRENTLY WITH EVONY” (EVONY Terms of Use Agreement, 2009)

Security

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Terms of Use Agreement.

The Terms of Use Agreement does not identify what Third Party programs are

unauthorised.

Security

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Terms of Use Agreement.

It also does not reveal what happens if an unauthorised third party product is

discovered. Is the unauthorised program disabled? Does use of an unauthorised third party product result in account termination?

Security

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Terms of Use Agreement.

“WHEN THE GAME IS RUNNING, REGAN MERCANTILE US, LLC MAY OBTAIN CERTAIN

IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR COMPUTER AND ITS OPERATING SYSTEM,

INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION YOUR HARD DRIVES, CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT, IP

ADDRESS(ES) AND OPERATING SYSTEM(S), FOR PURPOSES OF IMPROVING THE GAME AND/OR THE SERVICE,” (EVONY Terms of Use Agreement,

2009)

Security

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Terms of Use Agreement.

How is this information used? How long is this information stored for? The Terms of

Use Agreement does not clarify this.

Security

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Terms of Use Agreement.

While Regan Mercantile US, LLC claim that they are obtaining identifiable information to improve the game or service. It may in fact be a beneficial and efficient way of

achieving social control (Introna, 1997).

Security

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Terms of Use Agreement.

“REGAN MERCANTILE US, LLC MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR

DELETE ACCOUNTS AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU.” (EVONY

Terms of Use Agreement, 2009)

Account Suspension or Termination.

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Terms of Use Agreement.

While playing EVONY a user can choose to purchase in game items with real money to accelerate their progress. (EVONY Terms of

Use Agreement, 2009)

Account Suspension or Termination.

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Terms of Use Agreement.

If an account is suspended or terminated the virtual items that cost real money would

be lost.

Account Suspension or Termination.

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Terms of Use Agreement.

While this section of the Terms of Use Agreement does go on to explain that most account suspensions or terminations are

due to violating the Terms of Use Agreement. (EVONY Terms of Use

Agreement, 2009)

Account Suspension or Termination.

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Terms of Use Agreement.

If the Terms of Use Agreement was not read you would not know what would constitute a

violation of these terms. You would also be unaware that your account could be

terminated at any time causing you to lose any purchased items .

Account Suspension or Termination.

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Terms of Use Agreement.

I hope that this presentation has helped you to understand the EVONY Terms of Use

Agreement and has allowed you to consider how this relates to your privacy and

security. Thankyou for watching.

Conclusion

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Terms of Use Agreement.

Reference ListCOPPA – Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (1998).

Retrieved October 15 , 2009 from http://www.coppa.org/coppa.htm

EVONY Logo [Image], (2009). Retrieved October 5, 2009, from http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Evony_logo.jpg

EVONY Terms of Use Agreement (2009). Retrieved October 5, 2009 from http://www.evony.com/index.do?PageModule=Static&type=TandC

Introna, L. D, (1997). Privacy and the computer: why we need privacy in the information society. Metaphilosophy, 28 (3), 259-275. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/cgi-bin/fulltext/119168173/PDFSTART

Lessing , L. (1998). The Architecture of Privacy. Retrieved October 12, 2009 from http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/works/lessig/architecture_priv.pdf.