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My Information

To register with meinVZ you must provide the following information, without which the registration process cannot be completed. This obligatory data is:

• First name and surname
• Date of Birth
• Sex
• Region
• Email address
• Password.

To access meinVZ you need to enter the email address and password you provided when you registered. This information is referred to as your “login details”.

When you access the network, information regarding your use of the site will be transferred by your internet browser and saved in server log files. The following information will be saved:

• IP address (Internet Protocol address) of the computer used to login
• Your user number in the network
• Name of page accessed
• Date and time page was accessed
• Referring URL (originating URL); URL of the site from the which the user has come
• Volume of data transferred
• Report on whether the site was accessed successfully
• Session identification number

Every time you login to the network the following information will be saved in the so-called login data-records.

• Date and time of login
• Your user number in the network
• IP address (Internet Protocol address)
• Number of your session cookie
• Session identification number

This information is assessed anonymously to…

1. further improve our adverts and make them more user friendly,
2. identify and address faults quicker,
3. better manage our server capacities.

We use the server log files to analyse the network load at peak times and to find out how much data is being generated by the site. This helps us to recognise and address problems such as faulty links.

When you use your login details to register or login to meinVZ, the date and time will be saved, in addition to the respective login details.

Your data will only be evaluated for advertising purposes if you want to receive target-group specific advertising. You can change your settings for this at any time in “Privacy” under Advertising settings. The information that is evaluated for advertising purposes is outlined below in the chapter “Advertising”. You can find out exactly what target-group specific advertising is on our info-page How does the advertising on meinVZ work?.

Cookies

When you login, cookies can be used to identify you. Amongst other things, cookies can save your login details in a coded form. This makes it easier for you to login and helps make the network more user-friendly.

Cookies are alphanumerical identification symbols which are temporarily saved in the memory (“session cookies”) or permanently saved on the hard drive (“permanent cookies”). Most of the cookies we use are session cookies. These session cookies are not saved on your hard drive, but expire at the end of your session, and are then deleted automatically. In addition, there are other cookies that stay in your computer, so that you can be recognised when you next login.

My Homepage

You can access your homepage at any time by clicking on “Home” in the menu.

Telegrams

meinVZ can send telegrams to all registered users. These messages appear at the very top of your homepage.

Grapevine

The grapevine keeps you up-to-date with what’s happening amongst your friends: It displays what your friends have entered on their homepage or in their profile under “I’m currently...”.

If you have entered your status under “I’m currently...” or on your grapevine this will also be visible to your friends through the grapevine. If you don’t want it to appear you can change the corresponding settings in your privacy area.

Under “My Account” you can now link your grapevine to your mobile and update it using the SMS service. You can also connect your grapevine to Twitter. Your grapevine entries will then be visible on your Twitter account and can be found through search engines. Your Tweets will appear directly on your grapevine – displayed with a Twitter logo – and will therefore be visible to all of your friends in the VZ-Networks.

If some of your friends are annoying you with their entries on the grapevine you can place them in “quarantine” so their entries will no longer be displayed to you. This will not alter your friendship in any other way and the person concerned will not be made aware of this. To remove your friends from quarantine, you can pardon them using the corresponding link below your grapevine.

Please note: You can delete the five most recent entries at any time by clicking on “Previous entries” under “I’m currently” in your profile. Once deleted, these entries will be removed from both “I’m currently…” and the grapevine. If they have been transferred to Twitter, however, they will remain visible there until you have also deleted them there – we can’t do that from our platform.

Friendship Requests

Your confirmed friends will see more of your information than other users. Only friends, for example, will be able to see your contact details (if you have entered them in your profile). You can select which information you would like displayed to everyone, and which to just friends, by changing your settings under “Privacy”.

When you receive a friendship request you should think carefully about whether or not you accept it. If you decline a friendship request, the user who invited you will not be informed.

Birthday Reminders

You are required to enter your date of birth when you register. Unless you choose to limit the visibility of your birthday under “Privacy”, the users on your friend list will be informed that it is approaching; these reminders will be posted from five days in advance.

Visitors to your profile

At the bottom of your homepage you can see who has recently visited your profile. Other users will also be able to see when you’ve visited their profile. If you would rather not be seen, you can choose to be invisible as a visitor by going to “Privacy”.

Do you know…?

The “Do you know…?” section displays other meinVZ users to you on your homepage. The “Region” tab randomly selects and displays people who live in the same region as you. Under “Friends’ friends” you can see people you’re more likely to know, because they’re friends with your friends. In each case you will see the user’s profile picture and name. You are also visible to other users in the section, unless you change your settings under “Privacy”.

My Profile

Your profile is the page on which you can display information about yourself. There are two main versions of your profile, and it’s important you understand the differences between the two:

Full Profile

Your full profile contains all of the information that you enter about yourself. If, for example, you complete the “Employment” and “Personal” sections, this information will appear in your full profile. The only exception to this rule involves your contact details, which are only ever visible to friends. Please note that when you register with the network, your basic settings will make your full profile visible to all other users.

If you do not want all of your information to be visible to everyone, you can select that your full profile is only visible to certain users (for example your friends), by going to “Privacy”. Anyone you don’t allow to see your full profile will instead see your limited profile.

Limited Profile

Your limited profile will show your name, region, and profile photo. This information cannot be removed. Further information will be displayed in your limited profile if, and only if, it is selected in the relevant list in “Privacy”.

Please note: Ignored users can only see your name, region, and profile photo. Ignored users will never be able to see more than this, regardless of all other settings. For more details, see the “Reporting and Ignoring” chapter below.

Connection

The “Connection” section on other users’ profiles shows you which shared friends connect you to the profile owner. You may also appear as a connection between friends. If, however, you have selected under “Privacy” that certain users are unable to see who you are friends with, these users will not be able to see your friends as connections either.

General Information

The “General Information” section displays certain obligatory information (your name, region, sex and birthday), as well as any extra information you choose to enter here. By going to “Privacy”, you can select if this information is only visible to your friends or if it can be seen by everyone. These settings can be determined separately for meinVZ and studiVZ.

Please be aware that, regardless of your settings, your limited profile will always remain visible to all users. Your limited profile will always display your name, region, and profile photo. Further information will be displayed in your limited profile if, and only if, it is selected in the relevant list under “Privacy”.

Some of the information in your profile will be displayed in a different colour. This means it is linked. By clicking on this information you can see which other members in your region have the same entry in this field. Click again and you can see those members of either the meinVZ platform or the whole network who have the same entry.

You are required to enter your date of birth when you register. This will then be displayed in your profile for all users to see. If you don’t want your date of birth to be displayed you can go to “Privacy” and select that it is hiddenAccordion, or that the date is displayed but not the year.

Contact Details

The contact details you enter will only ever be visible to confirmed friends, irrespective of all other settings.

It is important to stress that your basic settings will allow every user to read all other information you have entered. Please go to “Privacy” if you would like to limit the visibility of other information.

Employment

The “Employment” section allows you to enter your current job and the positions you’ve had in the past. This means that you can not only let your friends and other users know where you’re working, but can also look for your current or former workmates on the network – company names are automatically linked.

Please remember that meinVZ is open to everyone, and that you will need to restrict access to your full profile if you want to prevent users from seeing your “Employment” section. This information is automatically displayed in your full profile, but is only displayed in your limited profile if you have selected it under “What is visible in my limited profile?”, in “Privacy”.

Profile Photo

Your profile photo is always visible to all members of the network.

Suggest Profiles to Friends

You can suggest certain profiles (your own or those of other users) to your friends – in the VZ-Network itself or by email to people who have not yet registered. The latter must first register before they are able to see the profile.

Notice Board

Your notice board works just like a real notice board – you can write on it yourself, and people can leave messages for you there. These messages are always visible to all users who can see your notice board. Under “Privacy” you can select who can see and use your notice board, and whether it is also displayed in your limited profile.

Once you have deleted an entry on your notice board it cannot be recovered. You can delete the messages you leave on other notice boards but, whilst you and other users can no longer see them, they will remain visible to the notice board owner until he or she decides to delete them.

I’m currently…

Under “I’m currently…” you can write what you’re doing at the moment, how you feel, or what’s going on in your head. The status updates that you enter here are then visible on the left hand side of your profile for all visitors to see. Your friends will also see your entries on their homepage through the “Grapevine”. If you don’t want everyone to be able to see this information you can limit its visibility – for meinVZ and studiVZ independently – under “Privacy”. The different options are: everyone, only your friends, or no one.

Under “My Account” you can now link your grapevine to your mobile and update it using the SMS service. You can also connect your grapevine to Twitter. Your grapevine entries will then be visible on your Twitter account and can be found through search engines. Your Tweets will appear directly on your grapevine – displayed with a Twitter logo – and will therefore be visible to all of your friends in the VZ-Networks.

Please note: You can delete the five most recent entries at any time by clicking on “Previous entries” under “I’m currently” in your profile. Once deleted, these entries will be removed from both “I’m currently…” and the grapevine. If they have been transferred to Twitter, however, they will remain visible there until you have also deleted them there – we can’t do that from our platform.

I like

The special profiles that you like at the moment are listed on your profile under “I like”. This list is visible to your friends and anyone who is able to see your full profile. You can find further information about special profiles on our special profiles info page.

My friends

Your full profile contains a link to an overview of all your friends. Your full profile will also display your friends divided into different categories according to criteria such as “region” or “university”. Any user who can see your full profile will be able to see the profile photos, names, and regions (or universities) of your friends.

If you want certain users to be unable to see who you are friends with, you can select that they are only able to see your limited profile. You can then remove the link to your friends from your limited profile by going to “Privacy”. More information can be found in this document underneath the “Privacy” heading.

Photo Albums and Photo Links

Users viewing your full profile are able to click on a link that will display a list of your photo albums. They will only be able to see the actual photos themselves, however, if you have made them visible under “Edit album information” in the album concerned.

Your full profile also contains a link to the list of photos that you’ve been linked to (your own and other users’). Users viewing your full profile can only see the actual photos, however, if the photo owner allows this.

You can prevent people from seeing this information by blocking their access to your full profile: both these links can be removed from your limited profile. More details can be found in this document under “My Photos”.

Groups

Information about groups can be found under “My Groups”.

My Friends

Friends

You can become friends with any member of the network – and add them to the overview of “My Friends” on your profile. The other person just needs to agree to this. Once your friendship has been confirmed you and the other user are officially “friends”. If the request is not answered, or is declined, nothing happens and you remain connected only through other individuals. If a friendship request is declined, the individual that made the request will not be informed.

Every member of the network can see who is friends with whom. Under “Privacy” you can remove the area “My Friends” so that it does not appear to users on your limited profile.

Those of your confirmed friends who are able to see who you are friends with will also be able to see you as a “connecting friend”. The connection between a user and the owner of the profile they are visiting is displayed at the top of the page. Such connections are also displayed when users visit the “Shared friends” section on other profiles. If you are friends with both of these users – the profile owner and the profile visitor – you can appear as the “connecting friend”.

Any user who is able to see who you are friends with will also be able to see the following information:

• the number of friends they share with you
• the number of friends you have in your own region
• the number of friends you have in other regions
• the number of friends you have who are at university (i.e. the number of friends you have in studiVZ)

Friend lists

To give you a better overview of your friends you are able to organise them into lists. You can create ten such lists and divide your friends between them. This is particularly useful if you want to send some of your friends a message – you can simply send it to the appropriate friend list. Your friends and other users cannot see who you have put in which list.

I like

The special profiles that you like at the moment are listed in your “My Friends” section under “I like”. This list is visible to your friends and anyone who is able to see your full profile. You can find further information about special profiles on our special profiles info page.

I’ll be there

Under “I’ll be there” you can see the profiles of the festivals you’ll be going to. This list is visible to your friends and to all users who can see your full profile. More information can be found under My Festivals.

My Photos

You can create photo albums on the network, which are then visible to other users. By uploading photos you are confirming that you have the exclusive rights to use them, that their publication does not violate statutory provisions, public policy and/or third party rights, and that they conform to the network’s Code of Conduct.

Create a new photo album

When you create a new photo album you should go to “Edit album information” and select who can see the pictures. These settings can be selected independently for the meinVZ and studiVZ platforms, and allow you to choose whether an album is visible to everyone, to just your friends (on either platform), or just to you. The visibility of each album can be determined and altered independently.

Attention: Any users whom you allow to see your pictures are able to copy them through their browser and either save them locally or save the corresponding URL. This means that users can then view the photos when they are not logged in to meinVZ and are able to pass the pictures, or the links, to non-members. This is no different in our network than in other online communities and websites, but it is important you are aware of it.

Linking photo albums to groups

You are able to link each of your photo albums to a group. Once it has been linked, an album will automatically be visible to all members of the group – regardless of the visibility settings that you have selected for it under “My Photos”. This applies even if the album was originally visible to “everyone” and you then restrict its visibility after having linked it to the group. The visibility settings you have selected will only be valid for the group members again if you delete the link.

Group albums are not visible to non-members of the group – they can find out under “overview” whether or not a group is linked to albums, but are unable to see them.

Linking people to photos

An additional function allows users to be linked to photos. You can link your friends to your own photos and to the photos of other users, and they can do the same to you. Links connect the profile of a user to the picture concerned. In order for a photo link to be added, both the user who would like to add the link and the user who is being linked must be able to view the picture. If these circumstances change (if the album owner alters the album visibility, for example), the link will be deleted. If you are about to link your friend, please be sure that he or she is happy with this, and that by adding the link you are not infringing on any statutory provisions, public policy, and/or third party rights.

If you are unhappy about being linked to a photo, you can remove the link yourself. Simply go to the corresponding album, click on the photo, and select “Remove my link”. The owner of the photo is able to remove all links.

Worried about someone linking you in an embarrassing picture? Don’t worry, you can decide whether or not your friends are able to link you under “Privacy”. If you do allow them to link you, you can choose to be notified by email each time you are linked. Further, you can select that links will only appear once they have been approved by you, and in this instance you will be informed of links awaiting approval by a notification on your home page.

My Festivals

The function “My Festivals” is based on a cooperation between VZnet Netzwerke Ltd. and festivalguide.de. Over 500 festivals across the entire German-speaking area have their own profiles on meinVZ. You can find the most important information concerning each festival and exchange messages on the notice board.

As a user you can show that you’re a fan of a particular festival by linking it to your profile – just click on “I’ll be there” under the festival profile picture. You will then appear on the festival’s profile page in the section “We’ll be there” and everyone can see that you’ll be going. The section “I’ll be there” will then also appear to other users in your profile and under “My Friends” – if they are able to see your full profile. All of your festivals will be displayed here. More information can be found under My Festivals.

My Groups

Visibility for users of the network

If a group is visible to you this means that you are able to join it (or request membership). Regardless of whether or not you are a member, you will be able to see the group name, the group description, and any recent news in addition to the group’s website and office (providing this information has been entered). You can also see how many albums are linked to it. If you want to read the forum threads, view the albums that are linked, and take part in the general group activity, you must join the group.

All users of the network can see who the creator of a group is and who its members are; unless the corresponding settings are adjusted. In the case of studiVZ groups that have been opened to meinVZ, however, it may be that you cannot contact, and are not able to see the names and profile photos of, those studiVZ users who have not yet connected their accounts to meinVZ.

As the creator of a group you can determine its visibility to other users. It’s your decision: should it be visible in both platforms, only in meinVZ, or only in your region. studiVZ users have the equivalent options for their groups. Users that have created groups in studiVZ and then moved across to meinVZ will still be able to see all the names of the group members, as they would not otherwise be able to administer the group properly.

Visibility of linked photo albums

If you link one of your photo albums to a group it will automatically be visible to all members of the group – regardless of the visibility settings that you have selected for it under “My Photos”. This applies even if the album was originally visible to “everyone” and you then restrict its visibility after having linked it to a group. The visibility settings you have selected will only be valid for the group members again if you delete the link.

Group albums are not visible to non-members of the group – they can find out under “overview” whether or not a group is linked to albums, but are unable to see them.

Visibility in your profile

As a group member you are able to adjust whom your membership is visible to under “Membership settings”. You cannot, however, join a group completely anonymously: membership of a group will always be visible to other group members.

If you’ve selected that your membership of a group is not visible to other users, this group will appear on your profile in grey (this means that it will not appear to users visiting your profile).

Group search

Our groups search allows you to find groups within the whole network, as long as they are visible to you, by using keywords. Please bear in mind that some groups can only be seen by users in a particular platform (studiVZ or meinVZ), or from a particular region.

Our search within a group function allows you to look for specific content inside a particular group – in the thread titles or in the entries themselves. The “expanded search” lets you decide if you want to look for corresponding entries of your friends or of any group members. The results can be sorted according to relevance or date.

My Apps and Services

Apps and Services are additional functions that give you a wider range of things to do on meinVZ. They are usually developed by external providers and then offered for the use of meinVZ members.

Most of them involve fun and games, but there are also some practical functions such as a tool that lets you synchronise the address book on your mobile phone with your friend list. Serious issues can also be offered as Apps or Services, such as a call for donations or an opinion poll.

The main difference between Services and Apps is where they are located:

• An App is a function that is located within our network and can be integrated into your profile, such as “The Tube”.
• A Service is a gateway to a function that is located outside the network, such as on your mobile or another website, where either you or one of your friends is already registered as a user. The option of linking your grapevine to your Twitter account, for example.

What they have in common: Most Apps and Services need information from you to function.

That’s why we have created so-called “VZCards”. Here, you can enter the information that an App or a Service requires from you – and then change or delete it at any time. There are two fundamental rules that apply:

• All information you add to your profile is only ever visible in our network. Apps and Services only have access to the information that you provide through our VZCards.
• meinVZ never passes information about you on to Apps or Services. You decide which information you make available.

More information about exactly how the VZCards work can be found in the section entitled “Security Mechanisms: VZCards and OAuth”.

Security Mechanisms: VZCards and OAuth

VZCards

Neither Apps nor their external providers have access to the information you enter in meinVZ – whether you add them to your profile or view them on the profile of a friend. This same applies to Services – they do not receive information about you directly from meinVZ.

Nevertheless, certain Apps and Services need additional information about you before you can use them – that’s why we have created VZCards. You can find out which information is required about you by an App or Service in its Service Information or from the Service provider directly. The Service information for an App can be found during the installation process and, later, at the top right of the App: just click on the spanner icon and select “Settings / Privacy”.

You are free to decide whether you copy the required information from your profile or add new information. You should familiarise yourself with the Data Protection Declaration of the external provider, which he is bound by. Read through this thoroughly and make sure that it meets your expectations. It can be found in the App preview or within the App itself.

You are responsible for creating your VZCards and for assigning them to the Apps and Services that you choose. Once you have created a VZCard you can change or delete it at any time, or assign it to another App or Service. You can also assign a new VZCard to an App or a Service at any time.

The “VZCard Administration” section under “My Apps” provides you with an overview of your VZCards. Here you can always see, which of your information your Apps have access to.

Each VZCard has a unique VZCard ID, which prevents external providers from being able to gather information about you, even when you have assigned multiple VZCards to their Apps. Thus, no external provider is able to create a picture of you through your information.

However - please think carefully about the information that you want to pass on, as this will appear not only to the provider of the function, but may also be visible to the other people who use the App or Service. Once you have passed this information about you on, it is not possible to take it back. You can, however, contact the provider at any time and request that your information is deleted. If you have suspicions that an App is using more of your data than it is allowed to, please report this to us.

Additionally, some Apps will ask you whether they have permission to communicate in your name. This would mean, for example, that a shopping App would show in your grapevine when you have bought a new pair of shoes, or that an online game would show when you get a high score. If you don’t want this information to be shown in this way, you can simply select that the App is not authorised to do this. The settings for this and for the visibility of your Apps to other users can be changed at any time in the App under “Settings” or through the “VZCard Administration”.

Conclusion: VZCards allow you to control exactly which information of yours is visible to external providers.

Here are some examples of how you can use VZCards:

Example 1: An online game

You want to play and assign a VZCard. Since it’s just for fun you can enter “Rocky 51” as your name and say that you are 115 years old. The other players will never know who you are in real life.

Example 2: A mobile address book

A friend of yours has created a mobile address book that allows him to manage the addresses of his friends on the VZ-Network. He therefore invites you to give him a VZCard. If you include your address on this VZCard, all of your friends on the network that have this Service will be able to see it.

More information and illustrations on this subject can be found on our VZCards info page.

OAuth – the security mechanism for password protected Services

Services are gateways to functions outside of our network that, like your meinVZ account, are protected through login information. Since, unlike Apps, they are not located within the VZ-Networks, any exchange of information between the two accounts requires additional security (such exchanges will only take place with your permission).

Whilst VZCards ensure secure transferral of information, an additional security mechanism is necessary here: “OAuth” allows external providers to have access to the information on your VZCards, without requiring your meinVZ login information being passed across. You don’t want to have to be logged in to both accounts to use the Service. You should also never give your password to other Services and allow them access to your information.

Sounds complicated? It is! But it’s the best way to exchange information between two password-protected websites. Here’s how it works:

• You are on the website of a Service provider. There you see a Service that you would like to connect to your meinVZ account. When you click on “Connect to meinVZ” you will be directed to a special OAuth login page for meinVZ. Please ensure that you are redirected to our website – the URL should begin with www.meinVZ.net/....
• On this OAuth login page you can login usually using your meinVZ email address and password. Once you have logged in you will be asked a question: “The Service XYZ is asking for a VZCard – do you want to use XYZ?”. If you want to use this Service, you can then create a VZCard and assign it.
• The Service can be used immediately, without you having to login to meinVZ every time – because by using your login information to login to meinVZ through OAuth you have confirmed your identity.
• Services connected through OAuth can also be deleted at any time. Simply go to “My Apps” and delete the link in your VZCard Administration.

Please note: Think carefully about which information you pass to the different Services. Once you have passed this information about you on, we are not able to delete it for you. To do this you must contact the Service provider or the friend who asked for your VZCard.

Some Services also require the consent of your friends – such as the Social Phonebook that transfers the addresses of your friends from their VZCards to your mobile, making sure that they stay up-to-date. If Services like this require information from your friends they only have access to the information assigned to them through your friends’ VZCards. You can use the Service to invite your friends to assign a VZCard. This does not mean that they should use it themselves, but that they should make the necessary information available.

Apps and their use

An App is, as we have explained above, a function that is located within our network and that you can integrate in your profile, such as “The Tube”. Most Apps are developed by external providers and then made available for use by our members on our networks.

Finding and suggesting Apps

Interesting Apps can be found in the profiles of other users, in groups, and under “My Apps”. One click on “I want this” adds the App to your profile and places it under “My Apps” for you to access and use it at any time. You can also add an App to your profile as your „Eyecatcher“. It will then be visible to all users whom you have allowed to see that you added it.

You can recommend Apps to your friends by using the “Suggest” function or by sending them an invitation through the network. In both cases the recipient will automatically be informed that you were the sender of the invitation. An invitation also ensures that you are automatically connected to your friends within the App, as long as they agree to this. This is particularly useful for group games and competitions, for example. If you are invited to join an App that requires a VZCard, it will only receive information about you once you have assigned it a VZCard and added it to your profile.

Installing and uninstalling Apps

Once you click on “I want this” you will be taken to the App installation. The installation homepage contains information about:

• who the provider is and how you can contact him,
• what the App can do,
• if and to what extent the App needs information from you.

If an App needs information about you to be able to function, you can use a VZCard. If you have already created a VZCard you can also assign it to this App. Or you create a new VZCard – depending on the information that you would like to pass on. All necessary information about VZCards can be found above in the section “Security Mechanisms: VZCards and OAuth”.

Once you have done this you are able to determine who can see that you are using the App: All users, just your friends, or no one. Please note that there may be other VZ-users who have already installed the App, who can then see that you are using it regardless as to whether or not you are friends with them.

If you click on “Add”, the App will be added to your profile under “My Apps”. Your friends will also see a note next to your photo in their “My friends” overview page indicating that you have recently added a new App.

If you decide that you no longer want to use an App you can choose to delete it – simply access it under “My Profile” or “My Apps”, click on the settings icon (a spanner) and select the link “Delete” – it will then be removed from your profile. If you had assigned a VZCard to the App, this connection will also be deleted. Information that has already been transferred can not be deleted by us anymore. We do ask external providers to delete your information, but to be certain you can also contact them directly. Contact information of Service providers can be found in the “Service Information” of the App concerned.

If you want to not just delete an App, but also no longer want to receive invitations from it, you can choose to ignore it. This can be reversed at any time under “My Apps” in the ignored Apps section.

As providers we also have the option to block an App indefinitely. If we do so it can no longer be used until it is re-activated. We may also remove an App from the network completely. For you, this would have the same effect as if you had deleted the App.

Visibility of Apps on your profile

You can determine who can see that you have added an App to your profile either during the installation of the App or at any time after by clicking on the spanner icon and selecting “Settings /Privacy”. You can choose it to be visible to everybody, only to your friends or to no one but you. The Apps’ default setting is to be visible to all other users.

Please note: Other users who have installed the same App as you can see that you are using it too – regardless of your visibility settings. Not all Apps are programmed in this way, but you should take this into consideration.

Apps with Web Visibility

Some Apps have a so-called “Web Visibility” and are therefore visible to the general public through the internet. This means, that information can be exchanged between providers, users, and search engines – including outside the VZ-Networks.

This is particularly necessary for interactive applications, such as games that are also offered on other internet sites. To be able as a meinVZ user to play against users from other sites, you must both be able to see each other, i.e. have some basic information about each other. This information is provided through VZCards – just like with normal Apps. To help you recognise Apps with web visibility straight away, they are illustrated by a globe symbol during the installation process and in your overview “My Apps”.

If you are adding these Apps to your profile, you should assign them a separate VZCard. This card should only contain information about you that you would be happy to see appear in different places on the internet, for example, if someone looks for it on Google or another search engine. If you use the same VZCard for multiple Apps with and without web visibility, the information entered there is as a basic principle accessible to all of the external providers. Each of them, however, may only use the information requested from you in his service information. Providers are contractually obliged to act in this way. If you have suspicions that an App is using more of your data than it is allowed to, please report this to us.

We recommend submitting separate VZCards for Apps with web view, which will mean that they only have the information they need.

Services and their use

A Service is, as explained earlier, a gateway to a function located outside of our network, e.g. on your mobile or on another website on which you are also registered as a member. Services will generally be offered by external Service providers.

Finding and recommending Services

You will find out about new Services that are offered in connection with the VZ-Networks either from us or one of our partners. Friends may also invite you to use a Service – you will then receive an invitation on your homepage.

You can recommend a Service by using the “Suggest” function to make your friends aware of it or by sending them an invitation within the network. In both cases the recipient will automatically be informed that you sent the recommendation. An invitation also ensures that you are automatically connected to your friends within a Service, if they agree to this.

Installing and uninstalling

Installing a Service can be done either on the website of the Service or on meinVZ, depending on where you have found the corresponding information.

If you begin the installation outside of meinVZ, our Oauth security mechanism will be started to ensure a secure connection between your meinVZ account and the Service (which is also password protected). More information on this can be found in the section “Security mechanisms: VZCards and OAuth”.

The installation process will then be initiated. This will be done in accordance with the installation process of Apps that require VZCards and can be seen above under “Apps and their use”.

The options of uninstalling, ignoring, and blocking the Services also follow the guidelines detailed above under “Apps and their use”.

If a friend has asked for your VZCard because he is using an external Service such as a mobile address book (Social Phonebook), you can still break this connection at any time. Please take into account, however, that you cannot retrieve the information that you have already transferred through us. To delete this information, you must contact the provider of the Service directly.

My Messages

All members of meinVZ and studiVZ can send each other messages. Communicating with studiVZ users in this way will not be possible, however, until they have connected their accounts to meinVZ.

When someone sends you a message you will be notified via an email that will be sent to the email address you used to register, unless you have deactivated this in “My Account”. You can manage your messages – read them, reply to them, and delete them – under “My Messages”. The messages in your inbox and outbox are at no time and under no circumstances visible to other members of the network.

Under “Privacy” you can select which studiVZ users are able to send you messages. You may wish to block all studiVZ users from contacting you in this way, or decide that only those studiVZ members who are your friends have this option. studiVZ users can do the same with regard to meinVZ users.

Please be aware, however, that you cannot block users within your own platorm (meinVZ) from sending you messages. Any member of meinVZ can send you a message at any time - even if you have restricted the visibility of your full profile.

If another user’s messages are annoying you, don’t worry, you can prevent him or her from sending you any more by using our “Ignore” function. Simply go to the user’s profile, click on “Report/Ignore” and select “Ignore”. Ignored users cannot contact you by any means, and will only ever be able to see your name, region and profile photo. More information can be found in the “Reporting and Ignoring” chapter.

Chat box

You can use the chat box to send your friends instant messages. If someone wants to chat with you the chat box link will flash. You can read and answer the message by clicking on this link. Users you are not friends with are unable to chat with you – this is how we ensure your privacy. When you log out of meinVZ all of the content in your chat box will be deleted automatically – old messages will not be saved.

If you don’t want to use the chat box you can deactivate it in “Privacy” under “Who can see when I’m online?” by selecting “No-one”. If you just want to turn off the chat box temporarily you can change your status to “offline” in the chat box itself. Then no-one will be able to chat with you until you change this setting back to “online” again.

My Account

In 'My Account' you can change the information you provided when you registered and make certain other changes to your account settings.

Login details: email and password

Your login details for meinVZ consist of your email address and your password – please keep your password to yourself and make sure no-one discovers it! If you want to change your email address or password you can do so here. This information is not visible to others at any time, neither staff of the VZ-Networks nor anyone else.

VZnet Netzwerke Ltd. employees will only ever ask you for your email address or password in the following two instances, and not on any other occasions:

• If you are unable or unwilling to delete your meinVZ account online (point 3.1 of the General Terms & Conditions).
• If you are making a request regarding freedom of information (more information can be found in the “Freedom of Information” chapter below).

Your email address will under no circumstances be passed to third parties for commercial or business reasons.

Name, region, and platform

You can edit this information, but only once every three months. This helps to prevent a situation where users are constantly changing information about themselves. It’s more enjoyable for us all if people use their real names rather than pseudonyms – fake names are only half as much fun!

If you start studying you can move across to studiVZ. Further information about this can be found under the heading “Changing platform”.

Notifications

If something happens in your network, such as you receive a friendship invitation, someone gruschels you, or someone comments on one of your photos, meinVZ sends you a notification to your email address. If you don’t want this you can turn these notifications off under “My Account”. The same applies to the notifications you receive about new photo links that concern you. This subject is particularly important so your settings for this can be adjusted separately to your other notification settings.

Connection with Twitter

You are able to connect your Twitter account to your meinVZ account here. This opens up a path between Twitter and studiVZ, along which your Tweets and grapevine entries can be exchanged at any time. Tweets will be displayed in your grapevine and updates there will be transferred to Twitter.

Please note: You can delete the five most recent entries at any time by clicking on “Previous entries” under “I’m currently” in your profile. Once deleted, these entries will be removed from both “I’m currently…” and the grapevine. If they have been transferred to Twitter, however, they will remain visible there until you have also deleted them there – we can’t do that from our platform.

Activate mobile link

You can even update your grapevine by SMS – simply connect your mobile to your account. Please note: Your network provider will charge you for each individual SMS. More information about this topic can be found on our info page “meinVZ mobile”. We will also – depending on the provider – display which network provider was used to send the SMS.

End membership

Further information on how you can delete your account can be found under the heading “Ending your membership”.

Changing Platform

You have the option of changing from meinVZ to studiVZ. Our “Change platform” function lets you transfer your profile over with a minimum of fuss. Please be aware, however, that studiVZ is currently only available in German. You should only move across if you feel your German is good enough.

If you’re a meinVZ member who will soon be studying, it’s easy for you to change platform and move your profile across to studiVZ. First you need to replace your region with your university - so we know where your profile should appear. You then need to make sure that the legal side of things is in order by agreeing to the General Terms & Conditions, Consent to the Use of Personal Data, and Code of Conduct for studiVZ.

The rest of your information will be automatically transferred to the corresponding fields in studiVZ. In those instances where the corresponding field in studiVZ is different (such as Employment), your information will be displayed in an adapted form. In the few cases where there is no corresponding field, the information will be lost. All of your friends, messages, photos and group memberships will move across with you.

The change platform function will also reveal whether you are linked to any photos that are not visible in studiVZ. Links to these photos will not automatically be deleted, but will be shown to you before you confirm to move across. You can then decide whether or not you are happy for these links to be deleted, or whether you first want the opportunity to contact the album owner and ask him or her to make the album visible in studiVZ. If you do want the chance to contact the album owners, you can simply delay changing platform to a later stage.

Once you have changed platform you are a studiVZ member, and as such the studiVZ settings will be applicable to you. This may mean that certain content is no longer visible to you, or only partially visible: the profile pages of some meinVZ users, for example.

After moving across to studiVZ you will then be able to differentiate between studiVZ and meinVZ users in your privacy settings, in order to hide certain content from meinVZ users. Your basic information (name, university and profile photo) will remain visible to all users of the network (in studiVZ and meinVZ). We strongly recommend that you go through and check your privacy settings once you have changed platform.

The move (back) across from studiVZ to meinVZ is also possible. This allows studiVZ users who have finished studying to change to meinVZ and enter their workplaces rather than their courses. You can change platform for the first time whenever you want, but will have to wait at least six weeks to change again. This is to avoid a situation where users are continually switching between the two platforms.

Ending Your Membership

You can end your membership at any time and with immediate effect by going to “My Account” and clicking on “Delete my account”. When you end your membership all of your information will be deleted from the meinVZ database and cannot be recovered.

Privacy

When you open an account with meinVZ, all of the information in your profile will be visible to everyone in meinVZ and studiVZ. The only exception to this is your contact details. When you have registered you can specify exactly who is able to see your personal information, independently for each platform, by going to “Privacy”. The settings here can be readjusted at any point in the future.

Please be aware that your limited profile, including your name, region, and profile photo, cannot be hiddenAccordion and is visible to every member of the network except ignored users. More details on this can be found in the “Reporting and Ignoring” chapter.

Who can see my full profile?

Here you can select who is able to see your full profile. You can decide, for meinVZ and studiVZ independently, if your full profile is visible to everyone or only to certain groups of users.

Which information is displayed in my limited profile?

Here you can select which bits of your information are visible in your limited profile. Your name, region, and profile photo will always be visible to every member of the network; everything else is optional. If you want to display your “Employment” section in your limited profile, for example, simply select it from the list.

Contact Details

Your contact details (e.g. ICQ number, mobile, address) are only ever visible to your friends.

Who can link me to photos?

Here you can select whether or not your friends are able to link you to photos. If you allow them to link you, you can ensure that these links only appear once they have been approved by you. If you have links to approve a note will appear on your homepage. You can only be linked by users who are on your friend list.

“I’m currently…” settings

You can write something in “I’m currently…” to let other users know what you’re up to. You can adjust independently for each platform which groups of users can see this – everyone, only your friends, or no-one – under “Privacy”.

Birthday Display

You are required to enter your date of birth when you register. This will then be visible on your profile to all members of the network. If you don’t want people to see your date of birth you can chose to remove it from your profile, or display it without the year.

Messages and Gruschels

Any member of the network can send messages to or gruschel any other member of the network. You can only do this to studiVZ users, however, when they have connected their account to meinVZ.

As a meinVZ member you can change your privacy settings so that studiVZ users are unable to message or gruschel you, or so that only your friends in studiVZ can do this. studiVZ users have the equivalent options regarding meinVZ users.

If another user is annoying you, you can simply choose to ignore this person: Go to the profile concerned, click on “Report/Ignore”, and select “Ignore”. An ignored user cannot contact you in any way, through either gruschels or messages, and cannot write on your notice board. Access to your profile is also blocked. Regardless of your privacy settings, an ignored user will only be able to see your profile photo, your name, and your region. More details can be found in the “Reporting and Ignore” chapter.

If you receive messages that breach the meinVZ Code of Conduct, whether junk mail, advertising, or a message that is in any way offensive, you can report the sender to the support team by clicking on “Report/Ignore” on his or her profile. The support team will then take the necessary steps to address the breach.

Search

Your settings in this area allow you to select how you can be found on the network.

Under “Super-search” you can select if you can be found through search criteria such as “home country” or “birthday”, or if you only want to be found through searches for your name.

Under “Who can find me?” you can select whether you can only be found by meinVZ users, or whether all users of the network can find you.

Visiting other profiles

When you visit a profile your name and profile picture will appear on that user’s homepage beneath “Recent visitors to my profile”. You can change your settings under “Privacy” so that you will be invisible and never appear in this section to other members.

Do you know…?

The “Do you know…?” section displays other meinVZ users to you on your homepage. The “Region” tab randomly selects and displays people who live in the same region as you. Under “Friends’ friends” you can see people you’re more likely to know, because they’re friends with your friends. In each case you will see the user’s profile picture and name. You are also visible to other users in the section, unless you change your settings under “Privacy”. Here you can choose between three options:

1. You are visible to other users under both “Region” and “Friends’ friends”, in which case both tabs are visible to you.
2. You only want to be visible to your friends’ friends. In this instance you will only appear under the category “Friends’ friends” to other users, but will be able to see both “Region” and “Friends’ friends”, on your homepage.
3. You do not want to appear in “Do you know…?” at all. In this case you will only be able to see the option “Region” on your home page, because the option “Friends’ friends” is only available to users who are happy to appear there themselves.

Who can see that I’m online?

When other users look at your profile they will be able to see if you’re online or not. If you don’t want others to be able to see this you can change your settings under “Privacy” to allow “Only friends” or “No-one” to see your online status. Please note that if you select “No-one” your chat box will be automatically deactivated – you must allow at least your friends to see your online status to be able to chat.

Settings for the use of my data

Reporting and Ignoring

If you want to prevent other users of the network from being able to contact you in any way, you can choose to ignore them. Simply go to the relevant profile, click on “Report/Ignore”, and select “Ignore”.

An ignored user cannot contact you in any way, not through messages, gruschels, or your notice board. An ignored user is also unable to access your profile and, regardless of what you have made visible on your limited profile, can only ever see your name, region, and profile photo.

If you feel a member is misusing the network or breaching the Code of Conduct in any way (sending advertising, junk mail, or annoying people, for example) you should report this to us immediately. Our support team will then investigate the issue and take the necessary action. To report someone, go to his or her profile, click on “Report/Ignore” and select “Report”. Please then explain the reason for the accusation in the corresponding fields.

The report function also allows you to bring to our attention any photos or groups you find offensive or believe may be breaking our Code of Conduct. To do so, simply click on “Report group” in the group menu, or on “Report photo” above the photo on the right hand side.

More information about this function can be found on our info page “How to Report and Ignore”.

Search function

Some of the information in your profile will be automatically linked. This information will be shown in colour. By clicking on the information you can see other members of the network with the same information displayed in the same field. This means you can expand your personal network by finding people with the same interests as you.

When you have clicked on a linked profile entry you will first be shown all the people who have the same entry – up to 300 people.

To narrow your search further you can use the “Super-search filter” that appears above the list of matches. This lets you filter your results according to “region”, “university attended”, “age” or other criteria. The following search options are also available:

Search in your own region: Look for people in the same region as you.

Search Everywhere: Don’t limit yourself to a region; search the entire network for a particular name.

Super-search: Find people according to a range of different criteria – “first name”, “home country”, “birthday” or “relationship status”. Only profile information that is linked can be found.

The School search allows you to find people who attended the same school as you. Finding old school friends has never been easier!

You can find groups by typing keywords into the group search function. Please bear in mind that some groups can only be seen by users in a particular platform (studiVZ or meinVZ), or from a particular region.

Our search within a group function allows you to look for specific content inside a particular group – in the thread titles or in the entries themselves. The “expanded search” lets you decide if you want to look for corresponding entries of your friends or of any group members. The results can be sorted according to relevance or date.

It is important to note that the different search options are available to all users of the network. Under “Privacy” you can decide how, and by whom, you can be found.

Inviting people to join

Any member of meinVZ can invite other people to become a part of his or her network by registering with either meinVZ or studiVZ.

If someone you know isn’t on here, why not send them an invitation? If you’re looking for someone on the network but cannot find them, an invitation box will automatically appear. To invite a friend, simply enter his or her email address into the box. When you invite someone to join, you can decide whether or not you would like to add a personal message to the standard invitation. The recipient will then be sent an email including your name and this message.

VZnet Netzwerke Ltd. will only use the information you provide here – the email address and name of your friend – to send an invitation, and not for any other purposes.

Logout

You can logout of meinVZ by clicking once on “logout”. To login again later you must re-enter your password and email address. To prevent other people from accessing (and misusing) your account after you have left a computer, you will automatically be logged out if your account is inactive for more than 30 minutes.

To be on the safe side, please always click on “logout” when you have finished your session.

meinVZ on your mobile

Thanks to our mobile applications you can use the most important meinVZ functions on the move – through your mobile:

• The meinVZ portal can be accessed by any internet-ready mobile under http://m.meinvz.net and is the version of meinVZ for your mobile browser. Applications (widgets) are programmes especially designed for certain mobiles, through which you can login to meinVZ. These applications are either pre-installed on your mobile or can be downloaded from the provider concerned on the internet. Both the portal and the applications allow you to use the most important meinVZ functions online.
• Nimbuzz mobile (chat box on the move) is offered by our cooperation partner Nimbuzz. You can download the chat function to your mobile, letting you chat with your friends wherever you are, whenever you want.
• The SMS service can be activated under “My Account” and allows you to update your status on the grapevine and under “I’m currently…”. The service is currently only available on the German mobile network. We will soon be extending the service, however, to include the Austrian and Swiss networks. More information about the SMS service can be found in the “My Homepage” section under the heading “Grapevine” and on our info page “meinVZ mobile”.

Whichever mobile applications you use, please note the following:

1. Check the cost with your network provider. meinVZ offers its mobile applications for free, but please check which costs your service provider will charge you for the use of mobile internet services, or for SMS message to the grapevine, by asking them directly.
2. Our General Terms & Conditions, our Consent to the Use of Personal Data, and our Code of Conduct are all valid for the use of mobile applications.

More detailed information about how to acquire and use our different mobile offers can be found on our info page “meinVZ mobile”.

External websites

We would like to stress the fact that our Consent to the Use of Personal Data only applies to our network – consisting of meinVZ and studiVZ.

External websites, even if they can be accessed from links on our website, are not covered by our Consent to the Use of Personal Data. VZnet Netzwerke Ltd. assumes no responsibility for the conduct of external websites with regards to data protection.

To ensure that any external sites meet with your expectations concerning data protection guidelines, we advise you to read all the information provided by these websites on this topic.

Advertising

Our network is free to use for all members. The means for VZnet Netzwerke Ltd. to support and further develop this service are in part provided by advertising.

You have the option to select whether or not you receive target-group specific advertising. This involves using parts of your information to determine whether or not a particular advertisement is shown to you. The advertising clients on behalf of whom we show the adverts do not have access to your information. They simply indicate the criteria we should use to decide who the advert is shown to.

We will only show you target-group specific advertising if you have not de-selected it under Settings for the use of my data in “Privacy”. Target-group specific advertising can be based on evaluations of the following information:

• Entries that you have added under “Edit profile”.
• The themes of groups that you are a member of
• Content of the so-called protocol files.

Your name, your photos, your political orientation and your religious denomination will never be used for target-group specific advertising. They do not contain any relevant information anyway.

Your settings concerning target-group specific advertising can be changed at any time under Settings for the use of my data in “Privacy”.

There are also advertising formats, such as themed adverts in “Search”, that do not involve the evaluation of any personal information.

Advertising shown over the network is typically not managed directly by VZnet Netzwerke Ltd. but by a so-called adserver (e.g. our adserver Adition). Your browser loads these adverts onto your computer and displays them to you. To be able to do so, your browser sends your IP address to the adserver, which then sends adverts back – this is no different to all the other websites you visit online. This is also what happens when you click on online advertising (such as a banner). Cookies and/or other technical devices may also be used by the adservers to measure the effectiveness of the adverts. VZnet Netzwerke Ltd. is not responsible for these cookies or other technical devices when they are used. If you want to object to the use of cookies by our adserver agency Adition, you can do so under http://de.adition.com/privacy/.

More information about advertising on meinVZ can be found under “Data Protection” by going to How does the advertising on meinVZ work?.

Electronic messages

By agreeing to the “Consent to the Use of my Personal Data” you are allowing the operator of meinVZ, VZnet Netzwerke Ltd., to use the information you have provided, in accordance with your settings, for the purpose of advertising.

With your consent, VZnet Netzwerke Ltd. can send you advertisements, either to your email address or through the platform’s message service. The maximum number of advertisements you will be sent is limited to five a month.

You have the option to select whether or not you would like to be sent advertising and/or information about, for example, new and improved functions on the network. The settings for this can be changed at any time under Settings for the use of my data in “Privacy”.

Freedom of information

You are entitled, at any time and at no cost, to see the personal information that the operator of the meinVZ platform, VZnet Netzwerke Ltd., has saved about you. When making such a request, please provide us with the email address that you last used to access the network.

This information will then be sent to you by email or, if this is not possible, by post.

Revocation of Consent

At any time you can specify whether or not we analyse the personal information provided by you for advertising purposes. You can adjust these settings at any time by going to “Privacy” and then to “Advertising settings”. If you indicate, for example, that you do not wish to be sent advertising and that you do not want to be shown target-group specific advertising this will have no effect on your membership of the network.

Nevertheless, please understand that it is necessary for us to record information about every members’ use of the site – this is obligatory. We store the activity of members for up to six months to both prevent and investigate network misuse and violations. This information is saved to ensure the security of our users and the network. We would like to emphasise that this information is not saved for business purposes (you are in any case able to prevent this through your privacy settings – see above), but because we want to provide a safe and attractive platform to our users. We want to ensure that users have the best possible security and protections.

If you do not want us to save any more of your information you can revoke the consent you gave during registration at any time. To do this, either write an email to revoke@meinVZ.net or send a letter to studiVZ Limited, Saarbrücker Strasse 38, 10405 Berlin. Due to the reasons explained above, however, this will result in your account being deleted. If, on the other hand, you simply wish that we do not send you adverts or analyse your data for advertising purposes, you can adjust your settings accordingly under “Privacy” by going to “Advertising settings”.

Data Protection Officer

If you have any further questions, or would like to know more about our rules concerning user information, please contact our Data Protection Officer at the following address:

VZnet Netzwerke Ltd.
– Data Protection Officer –
Saarbrücker Straße 38
10405 Berlin / Deutschland

E-Mail: dataprotection@meinVZ.net