KidChatters™
Acceptable Use Policy
(Often referred to as the "KAU Policy")

Please print out this page so you and your child can have it available for reference.

When you receive approval for membership in KidChatters™ and create your personal user account, you join a large and rapidly growing KidChatters™ chat network that is comprised of many Internet communities. While becoming a member and having access to these communities does give you certain rights and privileges, becoming a member of KidChatters™ also imposes certain duties and responsibilities.

Jima USA, Inc., which is the company that owns all rights to the World Wide Web domain KidChatters.com has established a KidChatters™ Acceptable Use Policy in order to define what policies, duties and responsibilities are acceptable in the use of the KidChatters™ chat services.

1. That the person completing all KidChatters™ registration forms, including the KidChatters™ Family Profile Form and the  KidChatters™ Create New User Account Information Form, is the parent(s) and/or legal guardian(s) of the child user(s) being registered.
2. That the personally identifiable information submitted by you to the KidChatters™ Family Profile Form and the KidChatters™ Create New User Account Information Form is accurate and truthful.
3. That you and the child user(s) registered for the KidChatters™ chat service agree unconditionally to comply with the policies, procedures, and guidelines of the KidChatters™ Acceptable Use Policy.
   

Subject Titles of the KidChatters™ Acceptable Use Policy:

• Statement of Chat Services Goals.
• General Policy Statement
• Security Guidelines Statement
• General User Guidelines
• Chat Room Rules
• Consequences of Chat Room Rule Violation
• Illegal Activity Statement
  

KidChatters™ Statement of Chat Services Goals:

The following goals guide the enforcement of the KidChatters™ Acceptable Use policies:

1. Preserve and protect the privacy and security of individual KidChatters™ members.
2. Maintain our reputation as a clean, safe, and secure chat service provider.
3. Ensure our chat services comply with existing laws.
4. Provide an enjoyable chat experience for our users.
5. Provide a chat service environment that is conducive to learning good social interactivity skills.

General Policy Statement:

While KidChatters™ is firmly committed to the principles of free speech, certain activities are damaging to the resources of both KidChatters™ and its members and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech.

The web server and chat server resources of KidChatters™ are limited. Abuse of these resources by one member has a negative impact on the entire KidChatters™ community of members.

We do as a matter of daily operations and management of the chat services provided by KidChatters™ routinely monitor the activity and posting of messages in the chat rooms. In our efforts to promote and ensure a clean, safe, and secure family friendly environment within the KidChatters™ community of members, we will respond appropriately if we become aware of inappropriate use of the chat services provided by KidChatters™.

If a KidChatters™ user account is used to violate the KidChatters™ Acceptable Use policy, we reserve the right to terminate that membership and access to the KidChatters™ chat network service without advance notice. Clearly, we prefer to advise our members of inappropriate behavior and any necessary corrective action. However, flagrant violations of the KidChatters™ Acceptable Use policy will result in immediate termination of membership and access to the KidChatters™ chat network services. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

Security Guidelines Statement:

Security at KidChatters is a very important element of the KidChatters™ chat service. Because we provide chat service to children we are very diligent in our efforts to maintain a high degree of user safety. If you or your parent suspect that there is an unauthorized user engaged in using KidChatters chat services or chat rooms, please notify us immediately at chatmaster@kidchatters.com.

Because security is important at KidChatters™, you may be challenged by one of our room monitors (Guardians) to provide certain information intended to identify you as an authorized member. You will never be asked for your real name, email address, home address, telephone number, or any other information which may personally identify you. If you are ever challenged by a KidChatters™ staff member for information, you will be asked to provide your Family Keyword only. You will always be able to identify a KidChatters™ staff member because their user name will be preceded by the title of "Guardian." Example: Guardian ChatBob,  Guardian Skippy, Guardian Cali, etc. If you are ever asked to provide any personal information other than your Family Keyword, DO NOT respond with their request. Tell your parents immediately that you have been asked for personal information and then contact us at  chatmaster@kidchatters.com. It is helpful if you make note of the user name of the person asking for this information and the time at which the incident occurred.

You are responsible for any misuse of your KidChatters™ user account, even if the inappropriate activity was committed by a friend, brother, sister, cousin, or any other family member. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to your user name and password.

Your password provides access to your KidChatters™ user account. It is your responsibility to keep your password secret and secure. Sharing your password with unauthorized users is prohibited. You should take care to prevent others from using your KidChatters™ user name and password since you will be held responsible for such use.

Attempting to obtain another member's user account password is strictly prohibited, and may result in termination of service.

You must adopt adequate security measures to prevent or minimize unauthorized use of your KidChatters™ user name and password.

You may not attempt to circumvent user authentication or security of any KidChatters™ host, network or account ("cracking"). This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a KidChatters™ server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other KidChatters™ networks and/or domains. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security is prohibited. Examples of these tools include, but are not limited to, password guessing programs, cracking tools or network probing tools.

You may not attempt to interfere with KidChatters™ service to any KidChatters™ user, KidChatters™ host, or KidChatters™ network ("denial of service attacks"). This includes, but is not limited to, "flooding" of KidChatters™ networks, deliberate attempts to overload the KidChatters™ service, and attempts to "crash" the KidChatters™ host.

Users who violate KidChatters™ systems or KidChatters™ network security may incur criminal or civil liability. KidChatters™ will cooperate fully with investigations of violations of systems or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations.

User Guidelines:

When you enter one of the KidChatters™ chat rooms you have access to a vast number of other KidChatters™ members from all over the World. The KidChatters™ chat rooms are operated with the intent to provide a fun chat experience that is also conducive to learning good social interactivity skills. It is a responsibility of us all to act at all times with proper chat room etiquette and good manners. Simply stated, you are expected to treat other KidChatters™ members at all times the way you would want them to treat you.

It is very important to remember that your use of the KidChatters™ chat room and any other member services provided by KidChatters™ is subject to your compliance with the policies, guidelines, and rules included in the KidChatters™ Acceptable Use Policy. Violations of any one policy, guideline, or rule included in the KidChatters™ Acceptable Use Policy may result in termination of your membership at the sole discretion of the KidChatters™ management, with or without advance notice. Here are some important guidelines and rules to keep in mind while you are using the KidChatters™ chat services or are in a KidChatters™ chat room:

In general, you may NOT use your KidChatters™ user account:

1. In a manner which violates any law, regulation, treaty or tariff;
2. To provide other persons, including friends and other family members, access to  KidChatters™ chat rooms and any other members services.
3. In a manner which is defamatory, fraudulent, indecent, offensive or deceptive;
4. To threaten, harass, abuse or intimidate others;
5. To damage the name or reputation of KidChatters™, its associates, affiliates and subsidiaries;
6. To break security on the KidChatters™ computer network, or to access/or use a KidChatters™ member's user account which does not belong to your; or:
7. In a manner which interferes with other KidChatters™ member's use and enjoyment of the chat services provided by KidChatters™.

Chat Room Rules:

To help you figure out what is okay and what is not okay to do while you are in a KidChatters™ chat room, using the KidChatters™ Kids Secure WebMail™ or Kids Secure Instant Messaging™ program  we put together a short list of some very specific rules that really are easy to understand and follow. If when you read these rules you still are not sure what some of them mean then ask your parents to help. Here's a list of the KidChatters™ Online Chatters Rules:

1. No Posting Personal Information:  Never give out or ask for personal contact information or any information that would help someone locate you. To be clear, DO NOT post or ask other chatters for last names (first names are okay with parent's permission), phone numbers, credit card information, street addresses, town names, zip codes, neighborhoods or school names (big cities are okay -- it's safer to say you live "near Ft. Worth" than to say you live in Arlington, Texas). Additionally, DO NOT post or ask for Internet contact information such as email addresses (Not needed because you have a KidChatters™ WebMail address), AOL messenger service #s, MSN messenger service #s, ICQ #s, or any other instant messenger service (not needed because you have a KidChatters™ IM address). Our adult room monitors will never ask for personal identifying or personal contact information. Be suspicious of anyone who asks you for any personal identifying or personal contact information. If you do get asked, please contact us right away at chatmaster@kidchatters.com. To be sure, our adult room monitors will boot you out of the chat room if you try and give out or ask for this kind of information.
2. No Shouting: Do not use all capital letters when posting messages. The use of all capital letters when posting a message in a in a chat room or during an Instant Messaging session is considered shouting and very poor manners. Here is an example of shouting: THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF SHOUTING IN A CHAT ROOM. Shouting is also very irritating to a lot of users. Please do not try to get around this  rule by typing in a combination of lower and upper case characters.
3. No Flaming: Do not engage or participate in any activities directly or indirectly which harass, threaten, abuse or intimidate other users. In other words, don't be mean to others. Always treat others as you would want them to treat you. The final judgment of what is ruled to be "flaming" is at the sole discretion of the Kidchatters™ staff.
4. No Flooding: Do not rapidly enter text/or images that tend to occupy multiple lines of the message screen. When this is done it keeps other chatters from being able to post messages. It is very rude and disrupts the flow of chat in the chat room.
5. No Offensive Language: Do not post, or attempt to post by disguise (represent swear words with symbols or numbers), any words which are "foul", "obscene", or "cuss" words. Additionally, explicitly violent talk, fights, racist language, or other abusive language is not allowed. The final judgment of what is ruled to be a "foul" word, an "obscene" word, or a "cuss" word  inappropriate for viewing by Kidchatters™ members is at the sole discretion of the Kidchatters™ staff.
6. No Disrespectful Behavior: The Kidchatters™ adult monitors (Guardians) are often in the chat room or hidden in the background to watch over things. You can always recognize a member of the Kidchatters™ staff when they are in the room because they will have the title "Guardian" before their user name. For example: Guardian Bleu, or Guardian SoccerMom. You may also see Chatbob post messages in the room. Chatbob is the founder of KidChatters™ and is often in the background monitoring the KidChatters™ Network and chat rooms. Sometimes, Chatbob and the Guardians have to make decisions which are not popular but have to be made for the benefit of all concerned. It is important that you respect the Kidchatters™ adult monitors like you would your teacher at school or your coach. Please do not engage in a conversation with a Kidchatters™ adult monitor which is disrespectful or argumentative. Again, the final judgment of what is ruled to be disrespectful or argumentative and in violation of this rule is at the sole discretion of the Kidchatters™ staff.
7. No Posting of Web Sites : Do not post web site addresses (URL) to the chat room. Our adult monitors cannot check out the appropriateness of all web sites posted while they are monitoring the chat room.  Breaking this rule may cause for immediate termination of membership if it is concluded by the Kidchatters™ staff that there is significant risk the offender will commit the same violation immediately upon release of "Access Hold." If a second chance is granted, a second violation of this or any other rule carrying the same penalty weight will cause for immediate termination of membership.
8. No Posting of Other Chat Rooms or Instant Messaging (IM) Services: Do not post to the chat room the web address of other chat rooms, chat services or IM services. Also, do not post invitations to other chatters to join you in other chat rooms or IM services. Most other chat rooms are not monitored and are probably not safe. Inviting or enticing other chatters to leave a monitored chat room (luring) is a tactic commonly used by people who have bad motives in mind and are probably dangerous. They want to "lure" a kid chatter to a place where they can say and do whatever they want with no adult monitor watching over their activity. Breaking this rule may cause for immediate termination of membership if it is concluded by the Kidchatters™ staff that there is significant risk the offender will commit the same violation immediately upon release of "Access Hold." If a second chance is granted, a second violation of this or any other rule carrying the same penalty weight will cause for immediate termination of membership.
9. No Boyfriend (BF) or Girlfriend (GF) Solicitations or Romancing: "Soliciting" is asking if anyone wants to become your boyfriend (bf) or girlfriend (gf). "Romancing" is when you use romantic words or actions to express your feelings for a bf or gf. For example, cyber kissing, hugging, "I love you" exchanges, etc. While Kidchatters™ is a fun place to meet other kids, it is not the place to be looking for or engaging in romantic relationships.
10. No Inappropriate Role Playing: Inappropriate "role playing" is where you chat or play games with others and pretend to be doing things you shouldn't be doing. For example, it is okay to have a cyber pool party as long as everyone keep their bathing suits on. 'Truth or Dare" is okay as long as the truth or dare does not break a Kidchatters™ chat room rule. Another good guideline is: If you wouldn't say it or do it in front of your parent or teacher, don't say it or do it in Kidchatters™. The final judgment of what is considered to be inappropriate role playing is at the sole discretion of the Kidchatters™ staff.
11. No Sharing User Name or Keyboard: One of the most serious offenses in Kidchatters™ is to share your user name or your keyboard. "Sharing" your user name means you are allowing someone else to use your identity while using a KidChatters service (chat room, WebMail, Instant Messaging). Usually kids make this mistake by letting a friend, a relative, or a brother or sister use their Kidchatters™ user name/password. "Sharing" a keyboard is basically the same thing. Usually "sharing" a keyboard is done while you and someone else are using the keyboard at the same time to post messages in the chat room.
    Breaking rule #11 is a very serious matter. The reason it is such a serious matter is that "sharing" is a security risk. When you share your user name or keyboard we do not know for sure who is on the other side. That means we have to assume whoever it is using your keyboard is not who you or they say they are. When that happens our service is no longer secure. So, the only choice we have is to take immediate action and ban your user name from the chat room, WebMail, and Instant Messaging until we can counsel with a parent. Breaking this rule may also cause for termination of your membership. If a second chance is granted, a second violation of this or any other rule carrying the same penalty weight will cause for immediate termination of membership.

Perhaps the most important rule of all is a rule you have probably already heard of: Treat all others in the chat room the same way you would want them to treat you. Follow this "Golden Rule" and you are sure to make a lot of friends and have a lot of fun chatting.

Top Of Page

What Happens When Rules Are Broken?

We have specific procedures we use when disciplinary action is required. When an Online Chatter Rule is broken, four things happen:

1. Warning to stop: There are two kinds of warnings. One kind is given directly from an adult room monitor and happens most often in the members community chat room. The second kind is a cyber warning from our Warning Bee Filter Program and is called a Warning Bee "Sting."
   While using the members community chat room - If when in the members community chat room you violate one of our Online Chatter Rules you may be given a warning by one of our adult room monitors to stop violating the rule. How many warnings you get is left up to the Kidchatters™ adult room monitor, so you may get one warning or several warnings. Usually, though, the number of warnings given has to do with the severity (how bad) of the offense. But, be warned that if the adult room monitor thinks there is a security threat you may get no warning at all! In general, the purpose of a community chat room warning is to tell you to stop breaking the rule or you will get "booted" (ejected) from the chat room.
   While using WebMail or Instant Messaging - Because we cannot be in your email or in your Instant Messaging session we use a computer program we call the "Warning Bee" that reads the content of every email or Instant Message before it is sent. If the "Warning Bee" program sees you are breaking one of our Online Chatter Rules it will stop you from sending the email or message and issue you a cyber warning to correct the problem. Each time you violate one of the Online Chatter Rules the Warning Bee will give you a Cyber Bee Sting. If you get 10 Cyber Bee Stings You will be automatically blocked from using the WebMail or Instant Messaging service until we can contact and counsel with your parents.
2. Booted from members community chat room: If you do not listen to warnings or the offense is deemed to be too serious to permit warnings, you will be "Booted" (ejected) from the community chat room. Once "booted" your access will be blocked for a pre-determined time of at least two days. Depending on the seriousness of the offense, "Access Hold" can be for a period of up to 30 days.
3. Disciplinary Notice: When you are "booted (ejected) from one of our community chat rooms, or receive 10 Warning Bee "Stings" from the WebMail or Instant Messaging programs your parents will be notified of our action with a Kidchatters™ "Disciplinary Action Notice" email. The "Disciplinary Action Notice" email will detail the nature of the offense (rule broken) and the "Access Hold" time period. It will also notify you and your parents of the number of "Cyber Bee Stings" you have accumulated.
4. Cyber Bee Stings:  Each broken rule (offense) carries with it a number of Cyber Bee Stings. The amount of stings assessed is proportionate to the gravity (seriousness) of the rule broken. An accumulation (total) of twelve (12) stings in any one twelve (12) month period can cause for you to lose your Kidchatters™ membership. The final judgment regarding membership termination is at the sole discretion of the Kidchatters™ staff.
   How do you know if you have any Cyber Bee Stings? Two ways: In the Disciplinary Action Notice it will tell you or when you log onto the WebMail or Instant Messaging system it will tell you. 

When a "Security Incident" is observed: In our effort to maintain a high degree of security in the KidChatters Kids Secure Network™ we may observe what we conclude to be a "Security Incident"  which requires immediate action by one of our staff members. When it comes to protecting the safety of our Kidchatters™ users, the Kidchatters™ staff will not hesitate to err on the side of caution. Examples of a "Security Incident" include:

• False User Information: Observations concluding the user may have provided false user information in the creation of their account.
• Multiple User Names: Observations concluding the user may have created multiple user names (identities).
• Suspicious Behavior: Observation of user behavior that is concluded to be suspicious in motive.
• Sharing User Name: Observation or suspicions that a user is allowing someone else to use their user name and password to gain access to any of the KidChatters Kids Secure Network™ services.

In these cases involving a "Security Incident" a Kidchatters™ user's account will be placed on "Access Hold" and will remain on "Access Hold" indefinitely until we can successfully conclude our investigation of the "Security Incident." In all cases of a "Security Incident" there will be an immediate assessment of twelve (12) Cyber Bee Stings. If as a result of our investigation we conclude there is a "Security Risk" caused by the "Security Incident" observed, the assessment of twelve (12) Cyber Bee Stings will remain and the user's Kidchatters™ account will be terminated. The final judgment of what is ruled to be a "Security Risk" is at the sole discretion of the Kidchatters™ management and its staff.

When the Kidchatters™ Acceptable Use policy is violated: If a Kidchatters™ user account violates a policy prescribed in the Kidchatters™ Acceptable Use Policy (KAU), we reserve the right to terminate that user's account without advance notice. Clearly, we prefer to advise our members of inappropriate activity by the means described above. However, flagrant violations of the Kidchatters™ Online Chatter Rules can result in immediate termination of membership and access to the Kidchatters™ Kids Safe Network™ services without prior notice. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

 

Illegal Activity Statement:

Any activity on the KidChatters™ Kids Secure Network™ that is a violation of any state or federal law is a violation of this policy and will result in immediate termination of your KidChatters™ user account.

Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to:

1. Transmitting obscene materials.
2. Intentionally spreading or threatening to spread computer viruses.
3. Gaining or attempting to gain unauthorized access to the KidChatters™ Kids Secure Network™.
4. Accessing or attempting to access information not intended for you.
5. Transmitting pirated software.
6. Creating multiple user accounts.

How to Contact Us:

If you need clarification of any of the policies contained in this Acceptable Use Policy, please
 contact us

This concludes the content of the KidChatters™ Acceptable Use Policy.