Help and safety

The TAATU Attitude

TAATU is a safe place where everyone is welcome to enjoy themselves, play and have a good time with their friends. So that everyone feels good and gets the most out of TAATU, there are some basic rules that need to be respected. If you accept taking these into account, your experience within TAATU can only be much better, but if you ignore them you risk being excluded from TAATU.

You can :

Meet your friends and talk to them
Walk around in TAATU and discover the various places within it
Have a good time and play
Respect the TAATUS you meet and their opinions and beliefs

You cannot :

Harass, threaten, make comments which are defamatory, obscene, of a sexual nature, harmful, hateful, vulgar, denigrating, offensive, violent, racist or abusing other people's rights
Use any programme for pirating, scripting or modifying of content
Steal money, furniture, clothes or anything else belonging to another TAATU
Create false friends to abuse the 'invite a friend' system
Ask other TAATUS for any personal information (password, e-mail address, etc.) or inform other TAATUS of your own information
Break the TAATU rules and/or encourage others to do so

TAATU reserves the right to use all technical and human means to defend the "TAATU Attitude". taatu S.A. also reserves the right to refuse access to its services and may likewise report to the authorities (the police) acts of anyone who breaks the law.

Confidentiality policy

TAATU undertakes to respect your personal data within the framework of our confidentiality policy. We need some personal data to register you in TAATU but we shall not use this information for any sales campaign without your prior agreement (if you have not ticked the "Receive the newsletter" box).

If this is not the case, we undertake only to work with respectable partners and only to send you offers which may interest you.You are the one who decides:

How to chat in safety?

On TAATU as elsewhere on Internet, you have the opportunity to meet people and make new friends. But you must not forget that the people you meet on line are not necessarily the people they claim to be. It is easy to lie about your age, your personality or the reasons why you are registered with a particular community. So, always be on your guard and do not forget that you can never be certain to really know the person you meet on internet.

Here is some advice from TAATU:

Never give your personal details to anyone (address, e-mail, mobile or fixed phone number, password, etc.).Keep these to yourself;
Never give out your friends' personal information including the place where you live, the school you go to or your sports club;
If you phone someone, hide you number. You will keep the mystery intact and the control of the situation;
If someone makes you feel uneasy, don't talk to them. Leave the room where you are;
Do not meet the people in real life. In spite of this advice, if you go ahead always ask your parents or an adult you can trust to accompany you and organise the meeting in a public place. Get there and back by yourselves. Do not accept a lift home under any circumstances from the people you meet;
Respect the TAATU Attitude;
Tell your parents what you are doing and where you are going. They will be able to advise you and will be happier;
If necessary, ask for help from a TAATU Moderator and tell him or her what is making you feel uneasy. They will help you!

If you want more information and advice, visit the following sites:

www.childnet-int.org

The moderators

TAATU is watched over by guides called "Moderators". "Moderators" can alert, kick out or exclude temporarily TAATUS who do not respect the TAATU rules. Furthermore, the "Moderators" role is to help all those who ask using the "Help" button in the navigation menu at the top of the screen.

A word for parents

What is TAATU?

TAATU is a virtual environment aimed mainly at 10-19-year-olds but everyone is welcome. In TAATU, each person is represented by an specific avatar called a Taatu. TAATU is therefore a video game where each avatar represents a real person connected in a different place.

Advice for parents

What does TAATU cost?

Registration and access to TAATU is free. Many of its members visit it for free as often and for as long as they like.

Some TAATU services need to be paid for however: sending of text messages, participating in some games and buying particular items (accessories, apartment furniture, clothes, etc). These supplementary services are accessible by using TATs, the currency used within the community. There are two ways of getting credits in a completely secure way: the sending of text messages or recharging by a phone call. To know how to buy credits and how much they cost, consult the "TATs" section.

We do not use any automatic payment system over the internet. If your telephone bill shows any transaction, it necessarily means that someone, from your home has picked up the telephone and dialled the number of our TATs' line. For any payment, we begin by asking our members to ensure that they really have the agreement of the person who pays the bill.

Are my children safe in TAATU?

TAATU is watched over by guides called "Moderators". "Moderators" can alert, kick out or exclude temporarily TAATUS who do not respect the TAATU rules. Furthermore, the "Moderators" role is to help all those who ask using the "Safety" button in the navigation menu at the top of the screen.

Within TAATU, all conversations go through a filter before appearing on the screen. This filter excludes any abusive, racist or sexual references. This filter is updated every day.

What advice should we follow as parents to ensure the maximum safety of our children?

Give your child some basic advice:

Never give his/her address or personal details to someone he/she does not know;
Do not accept meeting a person met on line without having spoken to you first;
Encourage your child to systematically inform you if he/she comes across information making him/her feel uneasy, bothers him/her or he/she questions, especially explaining to him/her that it isn't his/her fault;
Do not leave you child alone when surfing on internet. Regularly check that everything is fine and that he or she feels good while surfing.

Are my child's personal details protected in TAATU?

Our confidentiality policy is very strict: we will not pass on your child's personal details to TAATU friends nor to any company except taatu S.A. All the members of taatu S.A. have all been subject to rigorous checks to be able to work in contact with children and teenagers.

Why do you ask for my child's e-mail address?

We need to have your child's e-mail address to enable us to send him/her his/her password if it is forgotten. The Taatus themselves decide whether or not they wish to receive e-mails from us (such as information from the TAATU Manager for example).

We also wish to know his/her e-mail so that he/she can get the best from what TAATU can offer. TAATU offers your child the possibility of sending instant messages to friends within our virtual world. This tool has been specially developed so that children stop giving out their personal details to just anyone. When an e-mail is sent from TAATU, it is impossible to read the address of the sender or the receiver. Furthermore, only people whose names appear in your child's friends list can contact him/her and it is very easy to delete them if necessary.

Is there a risk that someone might steal my child's TATs?

If he keeps his password secret, nobody can steal anything from him/her. Unfortunately, children are quick to trust just anyone and we have taken measures to avoid this type of situation.

If you do not have antivirus software, your computer may be exposed to keyloggers, spyware which records your keystrokes unbeknown to you. We advise you therefore to install high-quality antivirus software on your computer.

How do I find out more about TAATU?

More detailed information about TAATU is at your disposal in our FAQ section in TAATU. If you have some more specific questions, please click on the Contact section to send us an e-mail.