Privacy Statement

Article 3 Obligations of XS4ALL 3.3 XS4ALL will refrain from inspecting customers' personal e-mail and/or files and will not make these available to third parties, unless XS4ALL is obliged to do so by law or as a result of a court judgement, or if the customer acts or is suspected of acting contrary to article 4.2 to 4.4 inclusive of these general conditions.

From: General Terms and Conditions of XS4ALL

Privacy and the internet

More and more people are attaching importance to the protection of their privacy. But it is not easy to state precisely what privacy means. According to the dictionary it is the opportunity for people to seclude themselves, to avoid disruptive influences from the outside world. According to another description privacy is the constitutional right to the protection of private life. The right to privacy may seem very basic: in the 'real' world you can shut yourself away in order to discuss confidential matters. On the internet, however, privacy is becoming less and less controllable.

Privacy at XS4ALL

The word 'privacy' arises regularly in our contacts with our customers. That is understandable, because the internet and privacy are closely related. When a customer visits a website or sends an e-mail, we 'transport' information which can be highly confidential. Privacy protection means quality. XS4ALL believes that personal data must remain personal and guarantees this in its General Terms & Conditions. XS4ALL does not make customer data available to third parties, on either an individual or a collective basis, unless it is legally ordered to do so by authorities.

Your personal data

Naturally you want to know how XS4ALL will handle your personal data. If you buy a service from us, you will provide us with certain personal or business details. We do not ask our customers to state their gender, profession or date of birth, but we do record your name and address in order to be able to send invoices. XS4ALL also asks for daytime and evening telephone numbers. This is necessary to provide additional verification, for example if you cannot fax your proof of identity when you change your password.

Your activities on the internet

XS4ALL does not compile profiles of customers on the basis of their surfing or dial-up behaviour. No details of your individual activities on the internet are stored. These could include:

  • E-mails and e-mail addresses
  • Visits to websites (surfing behaviour)
  • Subscriptions to newsgroups
  • IRC chats and connections

XS4ALL does not keep records of customers' surfing behaviour. XS4ALL does not record or analyse which websites customers visit, how long they spend or how often they return. E-mail remains on our server until the customer downloads and deletes it, but XS4ALL does not in any way inspect the content of the mails on the server - something which is also guaranteed in the General Terms & Conditions. XS4ALL does make a daily backup of all files, so that files can be at least partly restored in the event of a major failure. Everything you do on the internet can be recorded by third parties. That is something over which XS4ALL generally has no control. In a chat each participant can make a logfile of everything that is said. A posting in a newsgroup can be filed in a public archive such as dejanews. If you send an e-mail, it can be kept by the recipient. Your surfing behaviour can be recorded and analysed by the owners of websites.

What XS4ALL does record

XS4ALL keeps technical logfiles. XS4ALL needs this data to manage its internal operations. XS4ALL has no intention whatsoever of inspecting or analysing what individual customers do on the internet.

The full details are as follows:
  • dial-up data is kept for a minimum period of 3 months as laid down in the Telecommunications Act. This comprises the correlation between the (dynamic) IP numbers, telephone numbers and login names.
  • XS4ALL keeps a record of the volume of national and international traffic that is generated per customer. In some cases this data can be retrieved for each customer, for example for data invoicing to cable and ADSL subscribers.
  • XS4ALL uses a caching web proxy. This means that frequently visited websites are stored locally. XS4ALL also maintains statistics on the use of the dial-up numbers. These are used internally for technical and management purposes, for example in order to purchase sufficient ports.
  • Furthermore XS4ALL keeps a record of how much data traffic is generated per homepage, as there is a limit to the amount of permitted data traffic. Before this limit is exceeded, an e-mail warning is sent automatically. Once the limit has been exceeded the homepage is automatically blocked.
  • Owners of websites can also use the statistics to see the times at which their pages have been visited, and by which IP numbers. This means that visitors can be analysed in aggregate form in terms of the provider or the country from which they are connected to the internet.

Market research among customers

In order to gather the necessary information on customers' requirements, XS4ALL carries out very occasional market research among small groups of customers. These groups of customers, which are always selected on a completely random basis, are invited by XS4ALL by e-mail to visit a website with specific questions about XS4ALL. The customer logs in anonymously to the server with the questionnaire, so no connection can ever be made between a customer and the answers given. XS4ALL uses the (anonymous) results only in order to improve its own service. Moreover, the customer can at any time leave instructions at the XS4ALL online Service Centre to the effect that he or she wishes never to be approached with such questions. Attention is always drawn expressly to this option.

Announcements to customers from XS4ALL

XS4ALL's website is completely free of advertising. XS4ALL is very restrained when it comes to sending e-mail to customers. XS4ALL does not allow third parties to use the mail file and does not send offers to customers at the request of third parties. Customers can sign up voluntarily for the (free) XS4ALL Newsletter, which contains news on XS4ALL's services and products. This option can be selected at the XS4ALL online Service Centre (NL)

Legislation

The new Telecommunications Act has been in force in the Netherlands since December 1998. As a result, the tapping of the internet by the police, judiciary and information services is legally possible under certain conditions. XS4ALL will monitor closely the correct, accurate and lawful implementation of the powers of the judiciary and the information services in this area. The annual report of XS4ALL's Data Protection Officer provides details of the legislation and the ways in which it can be complied with in practice. The annual report also provides up-to-date information on the implementation of the privacy statement in the areas of data processing and data security.