Flipnote Hatena Terms of Use (English (UK), English (Australia), Français, Español, Deutsch, Italiano, Português, Nederlands, Ελληνικά, Suomi, Nynorsk, Dansk, Svenska) / Hatena.com Privacy Policy (English (UK), English (Australia), Français, Español, Deutsch, Italiano, Português, Nederlands, Ελληνικά, Suomi, Nynorsk, Dansk, Svenska) / Health and Safety / Flipnote Hatena Community Guidelines

The Hatena Website located at Hatena.com (the 'Site') is operated by Hatena Co., Ltd., a Japanese Company located at Oike Bldg. 9fl., Takamiya-cho 206, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 604-0835 Japan ('Company' or 'we/us'). The Company is committed to safeguarding the privacy of both 'Registered Users' and guest users (together 'Users'). The following is the Company's privacy policy (the 'Privacy Policy') that relates to personally identifiable information ('Personal Information') collected, used or disclosed through the Site and the services provided to Registered Users (collectively the 'Services').

Please note that this Privacy Policy is intended to meet European, Australian and New Zealand laws and regulations. If you are located outside of the European Union, Australia or New Zealand, we may apply additional or different terms to your use of the Services.

By ticking the check box 'I agree that Hatena may collect, use and process my personal data in accordance with the privacy policy' when you sign up for a Hatena.com account, you give your consent to us storing, processing and using your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information Collected and its Uses

• Information You Provide - When you sign up for a Hatena.com account, we ask you for Personal Information (such as your email address, date of birth, country and an account password). We further ask you to provide us with a user name (the 'Hatena ID'). Please make sure not to use your real name as other users are able to view it when you use the Services. By ticking the check box 'I agree that Hatena may collect, use and process my personal data in accordance with the privacy policy' during your registration, you agree that the information you provide us with may be used for marketing and for market research purposes, including internal demographic studies, so we can provide you and other Users with a better experience and improve and optimise the quality of our Services (for example, by displaying content that may be of interest to you and deliver more relevant information to you). If you are a child under 16 who wishes to set up a Hatena account, we require permission from a parent or guardian. For certain services, such as our Flipnote Hatena Plus Service, we request credit card or other payment account information which is transferred over our secure servers located in Japan.
  By ticking the check box 'I agree that Hatena may collect, use and process my personal data in accordance with the Privacy Policy' you expressly consent to the storage and processing of your personal data in Japan.


• Cookies - We use cookies on our Site. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your hard drive whenever you visit our Site. These files identify your computer and record your preferences and other data about your visit and about the way you use our Site and Services, including tracking usage on our Site (e.g. information about the sections you visit and the frequency with which you visit various parts of our Site) so that when you return to our Site, it knows who you are and can personalise your visit. By ticking the check box 'I agree that Hatena may collect, use and process my personal data in accordance with the Privacy Policy' during your registration, you give your consent to us combining this information with your Personal Information for marketing and for market research purposes, including internal demographic studies, so that we can improve and optimise the quality of our Services, customise our Services for you, confirm when you have logged into the Services, measure the number of unique Users of the Services, and for User authentication. Most browsers are automatically set to accept cookies. You can disable cookies or you can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent. You can do this through your browser settings. If you disable cookies, you may not be able to use all functions of our Site and Services. Advertisers on our Site may also set cookies. The Company has no control over such cookies, which are governed by the privacy policies of such parties. Hatena.com also utilises third-party cookies and image files (web beacons) in order to anonymously track and analyse website usage and activity. This information is compiled and analysed on an aggregate basis.


• Nintendo DSi Users - For Users who access our Services via the Nintendo DSi, the Company automatically collects the Nintendo DSi machine ID (MAC ID) that is being used to access the Services, the Nintendo DSi User Name, the User's date of birth as well as the User's friend list and MAC IDs of the User's friend list members. By ticking the check box 'I agree that Hatena may collect, use and process my personal data in accordance with the privacy policy' during your registration, you give your consent to us relating this information to other information you provide to us.


• Log Information - When you access our Site, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information about the way you use our Site, such as your web request, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser. If you are a Registered User, by ticking the check box text 'I agree that Hatena may collect, use and process my personal data in accordance with the Privacy Policy' during your registration, you give your consent to us combining this log information with your Personal Information to analyse the ways you use our Services, to confirm your identity and to investigate suspected violations of the Terms of Use and the community guidelines (the 'Rules').


• User Communications - When you send an email or other communication to Hatena, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our Services.


• User Generated Content - Remember that when you upload a Flipnote to our Site it may be viewed by people all over the world. You should take extra care not to include any Personal Information about yourself or any other third parties in a Flipnote or any comments you make on our Site. We are not responsible for voluntarily posted information and this information may be collected and used by others.

Hatena Newsletter

You will only receive the Hatena Newsletter if you consent to be contacted by email during the registration process. You can withdraw your consent to receive the Hatena Newsletter by changing your settings under My Hatena http://www.hatena.com/my or by sending an email to In addition, you can unsubscribe by using the unsubscribe links in each Hatena Newsletter.

Information Sharing

We only share Personal Information with third parties, i.e. other companies or individuals in the following limited circumstances:

• We have your consent. Except as described below, we will notify you before we share your Personal Information with a third party and give you the right to choose not to have your information shared with that third party. We do not share Personal Information with other third parties.
• We may use third party processors to administer and process your Personal Information on our behalf for purposes laid down in this Privacy Policy, e.g. for hosting activities relating to the use of our Site. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
• We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of Personal Information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request; (b) enforce our Terms of Use or Community Guidelines, including investigation of potential violations thereof; (c) detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; or (d) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Hatena, its Users or the public as required or permitted by law.
• As part of any merger, sale, transfer of company assets or acquisition, if permitted by and done in accordance with applicable laws.

Information Security

Your Personal Information can only be viewed by you after correctly entering your user name and password. Except for children under 16 whose parents or guardians may view, access and update their information, other Users or a third party cannot view this information in order to protect your privacy. Other Users or third parties visiting our Site will see the user name you have chosen during your registration. To protect your privacy, please make sure not to use your real name as a user name.

SSL code is used to transmit data you submit to Hatena.com in order to protect sensitive data during transmission.

Except for authorised personnel, Company employees are prohibited from accessing Personal Information. Company employees are bound by a confidentiality agreement and must observe the Security Policy set by the Company.

Accessing and Updating Your Personal Information, Right to Obtain Information

If you do not want us to use your information as outlined in this Privacy Policy, you can revoke your consent to the use of your Personal Information at any time by sending an email to This leads to a termination of your account.

In addition, the Company allows Users to view, edit, or remove their own Personal Information by going to My Hatena after login. You can also subscribe or unsubscribe from the Hatena Newsletter (for further information see section 'Hatena Newsletter'). You have the right to check and correct all data relating to your person stored with us. It is sufficient here to send an email to

To learn how to view, edit or remove your Personal Information, please visit the My Hatena section.

Storing Data (Data Retention)

We store personal data for as long as it is necessary to perform a service that you have requested or for which you have granted your permission, providing that no legal requirements exist to the contrary such as in the case of current legal proceedings.

Children

When a User attempts to register for an account on our Site, we collect an email address, user name (the 'Hatena ID'), password and date of birth. We require verifiable consent of parents or guardians of children under the age of 16 via the Site and Services.

To obtain parental permission we will ask the child for the email address of their parent or legal guardian. We will then send an email to the child's parent or guardian that the child has registered and ask the parent or guardian to confirm consent to the registration. The parent or guardian can see the data the child provided during the registration.

Parental Access and Control of Children's Personal Information

Personal Information provided to us by children can be accessed by their parents or guardians by accessing the 'Parental Control' page at http://www.hatena.com/parentalcontrol and using their 'Parental Control Code' to view, modify or delete the child’s account information. The 'Parental Control Code' is sent by email to the parent or guardian at the time of the registration of the child's account. If parents or guardians lose their 'Parental Control Code' they can have it reissued by contacting Hatena Customer Support via email at

Parents or guardians can also revoke their consent to the child's registration at any time by sending an email to This leads to a termination of the child's account.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will post any Privacy Policy changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice. Each version of this Privacy Policy will be identified at the top of the page by its effective date. We will seek consent of Users prior to implementing any change to this Privacy Policy that would be less restrictive on our use of Personal Information than what we promised at the time of original collection.

Contact Us

Please feel free to direct any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or our treatment of Personal Information to us by contacting us at or by writing to us at:
Hatena Co., Ltd., Oike Bldg. 9fl., Takamiya-cho 206, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 604-0835 Japan