With all the front page news lately regarding Sony and their network breaches its not suprising that other major online providers that hold sensitive information are doing some risk assessment and changes of their own. Recently Nintendo Japan sent out an email to all their Club Nintendo members informing them of new privacy policies to be put in place and their requirement to agree to the terms and conditions. Part of the new argreement will allow players personal data to be collected by Nintendo Japan.
On its website Nintendo explains “The amendment of the Club Nintendo privacy policy was necessary due to the launch of the new Nintendo 3DS system which offers a broad variety of network services. As you can link your Club Nintendo account to your Nintendo 3DS system, we adjusted the existing privacy policy to reflect and explain this. Under the new Club Nintendo Privacy Policy we ask for your consent to share your data with our parent company Nintendo Co Ltd in Japan. The Nintendo 3DS system offers many new and exciting features and applications which we cannot provide to you without involving our parent company. As you can link your Club Nintendo account to your Nintendo 3DS system, the involvement of our parent company also affects Club Nintendo.”
Users who do not agree to the new policy can still use the service until May 31st at which time their stars will be unavailable for use to purchase from the store and their membership to Club Nintendo will be cancelled. While it does seem a bit harsh to cancel memberships from non-compliance to updates i really cant see any backlash from users and it seems a minor inconvenience for getting a better, safer service and product.
