Glossary of Terms

The following special terms appear in our Requirements.

"Child" or "Children" always refers to users who are 12 years old or younger.
"Cookies" refer to small text files stored, and later retrieved by a web server, on a client machine. Generally, "session cookies" are stored only while the user is connected to the particular web server, and deleted when the user disconnects. "Persistent cookies" are set to expire at some point in the future.
"Collects" or "Collection" means obtaining any personal information from a user by any means, whether direct or indirect. Examples of collection include: Directly requesting the information from the user online. Enabling a user to make personal information publicly available to other users through postings in chat rooms, on message boards, or other means involving publishing or making available personal information to other users or third parties. The passive tracking or use of any identifying code linked to a user, such as through cookies, web beacons, or by tracking Internet Protocol addresses.
"Delete" means to deactivate, remove, or delete personal information from the business records maintained by you in the ordinary course of business so that it no longer can be retrieved in the normal course of business without an undue burden.
"Disclosure" means the disclosure or publication by a member company of personal information belonging to a user by any means, direct or indirect, for any purpose including an online forum, except where a member company discloses this information to a person providing internal operational support.
"Demographic Information" refers to anonymous information about users, including age, date of birth, gender, geographic area, hobbies, interests, and favorites not connected to an identifiable user. When associated with personal information, demographic information becomes personal information.
"Home page" refers to any portion of your website that has its own unique appearance serving as an index or table of contents with links to other pages on the website.
"Information-entry point" refers to a web page where user information is gathered.
"Link" means an icon or other visual metaphor for a button appearing on a page on a website, that a user can select and activate from a computer, and whose activation automatically causes the website to give the user access to another page without additional steps or additional input from the user.
"Material change" means a change that relates to a member's: Practices regarding notice, disclosure, use, or collection of personal information; Practices regarding user choice and consent to how personal information is used or shared; or Measures for information security.
Obtaining Verifiable Consent" means making reasonable efforts (taking into consideration available technology) to ensure that before personal information is collected from a child, that child's parent or legal guardian receives notice of your information practices and consents to those practices.
"Operator" means any person who operates a website and collects or maintains personal information about the website's users, or on whose behalf personal information is collected or maintained.
"Opt-out" refers to mechanisms in which a consumer affirmatively requests that a particular use or disclosure of information not occur.
"Personal Information" means any information that can be used to identify an individual or enables direct contact with an individual. "Personal Information" includes an individual's name, e-mail address, phone number, fax number, home address, social security number, driver's license number, screen name that reveals an individual's e-mail address, credit card number or a persistent identifier like a customer number held in a cookie or a processor serial number, where such identifier is associated with individually identifiable information or a combination of a last name or photograph of the individual with other information that when combined permits physical or online contact. Demographic information that is combined with personal information also becomes personal information (including gender, education, and political affiliation, etc.).
"Third Party" means any person who is neither the collector of personal information nor the person who provides support for the internal operations of your website.
"User" refers to any person who gains access to a website.
"Web Beacon" refers to a graphic on a web page (or in an email) that is designed to monitor who is reading the web page or email. "Web beacons" are often invisible because they are typically only one-by-one pixel in size with no color. "Web beacons" are also known as web bugs, one-by-one GIFs, invisible GIFs, and tracker GIFs.
"Web Site" refers to those sites operated by you, and submitted to ESRB for approval on your most recent Self Assessment Questionnaire. In the U.S., a "Web Site" is defined on the basis of what is publicly available to the consumer, and commonly understood to be a single Web Site under your control. Generally, a "Web Site" refers to the top level domain, e.g., www.esrb.org.