Section 1: Introduction
Your privacy is important to us. We have created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. The following document discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for the BEACONS Project site, http://beaconsproject.org/.
Only under unusual circumstances will information be revealed in violation of the policy. Release of confidential information would take place to comply with any legal process, protect or defend the University of Washington or other individuals or organizations involved with this project (including protecting the property of said parties), or to enforce University of Washington policies. Be aware that UW is an agency of the state of Washington and as such has obligations to maintain public records under RCW 42.17.250 et seq, which potentially requires us to provide Web site records if requested by anyone through the proper legal process. Disclosure might also occur by a break-in to the site's computers, either physical or electronic, and/or a UW employee or other contractual partner who violates our privacy rules.
Section 2: Explanation of Information Collected
This notice applies to all information collected by or submitted to the public portion of this Web site. To see the privacy policy for the secure participants-only area of this site, please log in.
On the public portion of this site, we collect only general information about where visitors exist and enter the websites, and no personal information is collected.
Section 3: System Logs
We keep a minimum set of system logs that allow us to tune and protect the service and determine general usage patterns. We keep these logs indefinitely. The system log information we collect or request may include these items: Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of visitors, browser and operating system type, countries that people are visiting from, the Web site that referred you to our site, search terms used to find our site, pages that you visit, and dates and times of visits.
Section 4: Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses
An Internet Protocol (IP) address does not identify you personally, but rather identifies the location you are computing from. We do collect IP addresses from those visiting our Web site. These addresses are used to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our site.
Section 5: Cookies
This Web site uses cookies to maintain state, that is, to maintain a connection between sequential page requests by the same user. On the public portion of this site, you may safely reject the cookie. Log in, however, requires that you accept the cookie. We have made this choice because cookies provide better security than other methods, such as URL rewriting.
Section 6: Links
This Web site may contain links to other sites. Please be aware that the BEACONS Project, http://beaconsproject.org/, is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site.
Section 7: Information Voluntarily Disclosed
We use information provided by you only for the purpose for which the address was solicited. For example, if you contact us requesting information, we will only use your contact information for that purpose. Return e-mail addresses and third party addresses sent to us for the purpose of forwarding information are never sold to other sites or businesses.
Section 8: Legal Restrictions
This policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Washington. If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from the other provisions and shall not affect the validity of the other provisions.
Section 9: Security
This Web site is hosted on servers maintained by trained computer personnel. Information received by this Web site is treated with careful regard for security procedures, including restricting server equipment and file access to appropriate personnel.
Section 11: Information Management
How to Contact Us
Should you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please e-mail our Webmaster at webmaster at beaconsproject.org.
Notification of Changes with the Privacy Policy
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to the BEACONS Project Web site, http://beaconsproject.org/. Please periodically check this page for changes to the privacy policy. This privacy statement supersedes all prior BEACONS Project, http://beaconsproject.org, privacy statements and is effective October 1, 2004.
