MESSAGE TO PARENTS

Welcome to BarbieGirls.com! The Barbie Girls® world is designed to be a safe, fun, and exciting place for girls to play online.

Your daughter can join our virtual community, create an online character, design her own room, earn B Bucks® (virtual"money"), play games, watch videos featuring her favorite Barbie™ movies, and chat with other girls in a controlled environment. She can also enjoy an enhanced Barbie Girls® experience with a V.I.P. membership, which would grant her access to exclusive areas, allow her to adopt virtual pets, "spend" B Bucks®, and play a number of great members-only games.

We are committed to providing both girls and their parents a safe, positive, and valuable experience online. As such, we’ve taken many steps to make the Barbie Girls® world one that you can trust.

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

• We believe that you should be aware and approve of your child’s online activities at all times. Just as you might observe your daughter through a window while she plays outside, we want to give you a virtual window – to our digital playground – as she plays online. We created Parents’ Place, a special section just for you, with this idea in mind. Once you’ve registered for a Parents’ Place account, you can update your daughter’s account settings, including chat level, anytime you want.
• You, the parent, control whether your daughter can become part of the Barbie Girls® world. During the registration process, girls are asked to provide their parent’s email addresses, so that we can notify you as soon as they join BarbieGirls.com. In that email, you’re given the option to opt your daughter out of accessing our site, if that is your preference.
• We want you to feel educated, empowered, and engaged as you navigate through kids’ virtual worlds. This is why we encourage constant conversation between you and your daughter. Start an open dialog. Make decisions together. It’s all part of creating a truly positive and valuable experience for girls, while reinforcing healthy online habits in the process.

PRIVACY AND SAFETY

• The BarbieGirls.com experience is intended to be anonymous. Girls are not allowed to share or exchange personal information with any third parties online. And we never ask a girl to provide personal, identifying information apart from her parent’s email address, which is used to notify you of your daughter’s registration. We do not share email addresses, and we only store your email if you create a BarbieGirls.com Parents’ Place account.
• When a girl registers, she creates a screen name, which is the only way she’s identified to other users at BarbieGirls.com. She’s instructed not to include her real name in her screen name – or any numbers from her address or phone number. We encourage girls to take a unique, creative approach in choosing their screen names.
• She also creates a password and secret question for sign-in, and we advise her never to share her password with anyone except her parents. For extra security, a user may change her password at any time. We clearly state that no one from BarbieGirls.com will EVER ask for her password. If you create a Parents’ Place account, you can change your daughter’s password and secret question, too.
• We require every registrant to read and agree to our Barbie Girls® Rules, outlining safety measures and proper behavior at BarbieGirls.com. Our moderators are there to ensure that girls follow the Rules at all times. If a girl does not follow these Rules, she will receive a series of warnings, after which her account may be banned, preventing access to the site.
• You and your daughter control who visits her online room. We encourage you to make this a joint decision - sit down with her and talk about it together. Choose "locked" to prevent anyone from entering. Choose "best friends only" to allow only those girls who are personally known to your daughter and have connected their Barbie Girl™ device to her computer. Choose "open" to allow anyone to visit (though she can still decide who to let in by requiring them to "knock" first).

CHAT

• There are three kinds of chat in the Barbie Girls® world – B Chat™, Super B Chat™ and Secret B Chat™. All are designed to provide a safe and fun chatting experience for girls online. In order to communicate with each other, girls must have the same level of chat. Those with B Chat™, for example, will be in a separate chat environment from those with Super B Chat™ and Secret B Chat™.
  
  
  • B Chat™ is our standard, default chat feature. Anyone can engage in a B Chat™, which may occur in a girl’s room, stores at the mall, and other public hangouts. B Chat™ is the most common type of chat at BarbieGirls.com – and the most restricted. Girls can communicate only by selecting special greetings, questions, and phrases we’ve created and listed by category. They cannot create their own messages using B Chat™.
  • Secret B Chat™ is a private chat that occurs only in a girl’s room and is available only to "best friends" (real-life friends who own a Barbie Girl™ device and have physically connected it to each other’s computer). With Secret B Chat™, best friends can chat using a dictionary of words we’ve approved and compiled in our database. This sophisticated word-filtering system is designed to block all other words and prevent inappropriate combinations of otherwise acceptable words. Only girls with parental permission can participate in Secret B Chat™.
  • Super B Chat™ is similar to Secret B Chat™ in that users can type their own messages, but only using words that we’ve approved and compiled in our database. Girls do not need a Barbie Girl™ device to participate in Super B Chat™. Our word-filtering system is designed to block all other words and inappropriate combinations of otherwise acceptable words, prevent the exchange of personal information, and to help keep chat safe, friendly, and fun. Like Secret B Chat™, only girls with parental permission can participate in Super B Chat™.
• A girl cannot use Super B Chat™ or Secret B Chat™ without specific permission from her parents. If your daughter has already registered with BarbieGirls.com and later owns and connects her Barbie Girl™ device, she will once again have to provide your email address. When you receive our email requesting permission, create a Parents’ Place account if you haven’t already. From there you can grant your daughter access to Secret B Chat™.
• If your daughter registers with BarbieGirls.com at the same time she connects her Barbie Girl™ device, she will still need your permission to access Secret B Chat™. You’ll be asked to create a Parents’ Place account, or log in to your existing Parents’ Place account, where you can turn Secret B Chat™ on or off.

MODERATION

• We monitor Super B Chat™ and Secret B Chat™ to help ensure it stays safe and appropriate. Barbie Girls® administrators frequently review reports of chatting in the environment and adjust the word filters as needed to block or allow new words or phrases. This monitoring is strictly for the purpose of maintaining a safe chat environment. Chat reports are not used in any other way, and we do not save or store any private information.
• If a girl feels that a friend or best friend is misbehaving, she can click "block" to keep that person from sending her messages. And she can instantly remove anyone from her room by clicking "ask to leave." We take these offenses seriously and ask girls not to abuse this safety feature or use it to play jokes on their friends.
• If someone ever makes her feel uncomfortable, she can let us know by clicking that user’s character and selecting "report." When a user is reported, we can review the chat at the time of the incident, monitor the offending user, and determine whether further action is required. Depending on the offense, any user attempting objectionable behavior can be banned from the site.

We encourage you to explore BarbieGirls.com and to keep the lines of communication open with your daughter. Discuss all these options and safety features with her. You may also want to review our Online Safety Tips and Barbie Girls® Rules together, then print out the list and keep it next to the computer as a constant reminder to stay safe online.

For additional information, please read our Privacy Policy and Legal Terms & Conditions.

Thanks for your interest in BarbieGirls.com. We hope you and your daughter enjoy our wonderful online community! If you have questions, comments, or concerns, drop us a line at Service@mattel.com. Please allow 48 hours for our written response.

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