A Message For Parents

Please Read This Children's Privacy Policy Carefully Before Allowing Your Children to Use the Sanrio.com Site

Sanrio, Inc. ("Sanrio," "we," "us", "our") provides www.sanrio.com (the "Site"). We at Sanrio are dedicated to safeguarding your children's privacy. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") requires us to inform parents and legal guardians about how we collect, use, and disclose personal information from children under the age of thirteen; and that we obtain parental consent before we allow children under the age of thirteen to use certain features of the Site. The term "parent" as used in this policy includes legal guardians. The term "child" as used in this policy means a child that is under the age of thirteen. Other capitalized terms used in this policy are defined in our Privacy Policy, which can be found at http://www.sanrio.com/legal/privacy.php.

To make the Site safe and fun for children, we have adopted the following policies and practices.

1. What Information is Collected from Children?

Children can explore the Site, view and print content, and play many games without providing to us any "Personally Identifiable Information" (i.e., Information that can be traced back to the child or used to identify the child. Personally Identifiable Information includes information such as full name, home address, telephone number and e-mail address). We do not condition children's participation in online activities on the disclosure of more information than is reasonably necessary for a child to engage in any particular activity. If children do not create an account, subscribe to e-mail newsletters, send e-cards or e-mail to friends, or participate in online polls and surveys on or through the Site, the only information we collect will be "Non-Personally Identifiable Information" (i.e., Information that is not traceable back to the child and cannot be used to identify the child). If, however, children choose to subscribe to e-mail newsletters, send e-cards or e-mail to friends, or participate in online polls through the Site, we may require them to submit Personally Identifiable Information as described below.

(a) Subscribing to Newsletters. When children subscribe to our "Hello Kitty's Sweet Happy News" e-mail newsletter or other newsletters, we may ask for their first and last name, e-mail address, address, country of residence, age, gender, favorite Sanrio character, and/or products of interest.

(b) Sending E-Cards and E-Mailing Art to a Friend. Children can send an electronic postcard ("e-card") or e-mail art to a friend using our Post Office. We may ask for a first name and e-mail address, and we may also ask for Personally Identifiable Information about the intended recipient, like a first name and e-mail address.

(c) Participating in Online Polls. Sanrio may, from time to time, utilize online polls. Children may be asked to provide only information that is not personally identifiable (such as first name only, city or state of residence, age, gender, or favorite Sanrio character).

When children known by us to be under thirteen participate in an ongoing Site activity that requires the collection, retention, and use of Personally Identifiable Information, we may also ask for information such as a parent's name and e-mail address.

2. How Information Collected from Children is Used and Shared

We use Personally Identifiable Information collected in connection with child-directed activities for internal purposes only, such as to enable children to create a wish list in our online store, to distribute an online newsletter, to enable children to send e-cards or e-mail to friends, or to allow children to participate in online polls or surveys.

(a) Subscribing to Newsletters. Sanrio uses contact information collected during subscription to send children the newsletter.

(b) Sending E-Cards and E-Mailing Art to a Friend. When children provide information to send an e-card or e-mail art to a friend, Sanrio will only use the information given to send the e-card or e-mail and will not retain the information after the e-card or e-mail is sent.

(c) Participating in Online Polls. Sanrio may share aggregate information about our users with our advertising partners, such as that gathered from online polls. We need to do this so that our advertising partners can target their advertisements at the right audiences. Please however note that we do not give any personally identifiable information collected from children to any of our advertising partners.

(d) Communications with Sanrio. When children send an e-mail message to or otherwise contact Sanrio, Sanrio may use the information provided by them to respond to such communications and/or as described in this Children's Privacy Policy or the Privacy Policy. Also, Sanrio may archive this information.

We do not disclose any Personally Identifiable Information collected from children to any third parties except (a) with a parent's written permission, (b) as required by any applicable law, (c) to our approved operations and maintenance contractors, under the terms set forth below; or (d) in special cases, such as a physical threat to you or others. Sanrio operations and maintenance contractors sometimes have limited access to Personally Identifiable Information in the course of providing products or services to Sanrio. These contractors include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content related to better operation and maintenance of the Site. Access to Personally Identifiable Information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the contractor to perform its limited function for Sanrio. We also contractually require that our operations and maintenance contractors not use or disclose this Personally Identifiable Information for any purpose other than providing us with products and services, and that they secure this Personally Identifiable Information with safeguards equivalent to our own safeguards.

3. Linked Sites

Please be aware that when children click on certain links or advertising banners on our site, they may be linked to sites which are not operated by us ("Third Party Sites"). Sanrio does not endorse and is not responsible for the privacy practices of these Third Party Sites. We strongly recommend that you should review the privacy policy statements of those Third Party Sites which collect information from your children. Sanrio does not disclose children's Personally Identifiable Information to these Third Party Sites without obtaining a parent's consent.

4. How we Notify and Obtain Consent from Parents for the Collection of Information About Their Children

We are required by COPPA to use reasonable efforts to ensure that before personal information is collected from a child, a parent of the child receives notice of and consents to our information practices. Children under the age of 13 may participate in Site activities that require us to collect and use Personally Identifiable Information from them only with the verifiable parental consent of a parent or legal guardian.

5. How Parents can Access, Change or Delete Personally Identifiable Information About Their Children

Parents have the right to access, change or delete any personally information collected by us from their children, and to refuse at any time to permit us to collect further such information from their children. Parents can review the Personally Identifiable Information concerning their child that is collected and maintained by Sanrio, and may request the deletion or correction of that Personally Identifiable Information by e-mailing webmaster@sanrio.com. Please include the child's member name and the parent's e-mail address in the e-mail.

For children subscribing to the "Hello Kitty's Sweet Happy News" e-mail newsletter, a link to the Personally Identifiable Information collected is included at the end of each e-mailed newsletter. If you would like to unsubscribe from the newsletter or change any information, please follow the link at the end of the newsletter, or send an e-mail request to webmaster@sanrio.com. Be sure to include the e-mail address you want removed or changed.

6. Policy Changes

Your family's use of the Site is conditioned on your acceptance of the policies and terms set forth in this Children's Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to amend this policy at any time without prior notice and only the current policy may be deemed effective. We will notify you about any material changes in the way we treat personally identifiable information by placing a notice on our site. We encourage you to check back frequently, since your family's continued use of this site is conditioned on your acceptance of any modifications hereto.

7. Questions, Comments, or Concerns

If you have questions, comments or concerns about any of our privacy policies or practices, or to raise any other issue, please e-mail us at privacystandards@sanrio.com. You may also contact us at: Sanrio, Inc.; 570 Eccles Avenue; South San Francisco, CA 94080, or call us at: (650) 952-2880.

Before using this site, please also read our Terms of Use and our general Privacy Policy.