1. Information collection and use
From time to time, you will be asked to submit personal information about yourself (e.g. name and email address etc) in order to receive or use services at lol101. Such services include newsletters, competitions, "Alert Email", live chats, message boards and lol101 membership.

By entering your details in the fields requested, you enable lol101 and its service providers to provide you with the services you select. Whenever you provide such personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy. Our services are designed to give you the information that you want to receive. lol101 will act in accordance with current legislation and aim to meet current Internet best practice.

2. Information on visitors
During the course of any visit to lol101, the pages you see, along with something called a cookie, are downloaded to your computer (see point 3 for more details on this). Most, if not all, websites do this, because cookies allow the website publisher to ascertain whether the computer (and probably its user) has visited the site before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit.

Any information that is supplied by cookies can help us to provide you with a better service and assists us to analyse the profile of our visitors. For example: if on a previous visit you went to the mobile wallpaper section, then we might find this out from your cookie and highlight wallpapers on a second visit.

3. What is a cookie?
When you enter a site your computer will automatically be issued with a cookie. Cookies are text files that identify your computer to our server. Cookies in themselves do not identify the individual user, just the computer used. Many sites do this whenever a user visits their site in order to track traffic flows. Cookies themselves only record those areas of the site that have been visited by the computer in question, and for how long. Users have the opportunity to set their computers to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these, of course, means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user.

NB: Even if you haven't set your computer to reject cookies you can still browse our site anonymously until such time as you register for lol101 services.

4. Use and storage of your personal information
When you supply any personal information to lol101 (e.g. for competitions, lol101 Community services or lol101 membership) we have legal obligations towards you in the way we deal with that data. We must collect the information fairly, that is, we must explain how we will use it and tell you if we want to pass the information on to anyone else. In general, any information you provide to lol101 will only be used within lol101 and by its service providers. It will never be supplied to anyone outside lol101 without first obtaining your consent, unless we are obliged or permitted by law to disclose it. Also, if you post or send offensive or inappropriate content anywhere on or to lol101 or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on lol101, and lol101 considers such behaviour to be serious and/or repeated, lol101 can use whatever information that is available to it about you to stop such behaviour. This may include informing relevant third parties such as your employer, school or e-mail provider about the content and your behaviour.

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as you use the service you have requested, and remove it in the event that the purpose has been met, or, in the case of you no longer wish to continue your status as a lol101 member. For safety reasons, however, lol101 may store messaging transcript data (including message content, member names, times and dates) arising from the use of lol101 Community services for a period of six months. Where personal information is held for people who are not yet registered but have taken part in other lol101 services (eg competitions), that information will be held only as long as necessary to ensure that the service is run smoothly. We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

If you are notified on lol101 that your information may be used to allow lol101 to contact you for "service administration purposes", this means that lol101 may contact you for a number of purposes related to the service you have signed up for. For example, we may wish to provide you with password reminders or notify you that a particular service has been improved or suspended.

5. Access to your personal information
You have the right to request a copy of the personal information lol101 holds about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (There is a small charge for such administration requests.)

6. Users 16 and under
If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent/guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to lol101's website. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information