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Last revised: September 2, 2002
Insideschools.org is a program of Advocates for Children of New York
("AFC," "we," "us")
that provides a variety of online services, making it easier for parents,
guardians and other interested individuals and organizations to find
out about New York City's public schools and school system, general
information on their legal rights in the New York City public school
system, and to voice their opinions. We share your concerns about
the protection of your personal information online. This Privacy Policy
(the "Policy") describes our practices regarding
any personal information that we collect through our Internet website,
located at www.insideschools.org (the "Site"). By
visiting or using the Site, you signify that you agree to the terms
and conditions of this Policy. If you do not agree to this Policy,
please do not use the Site.
This Policy is the sole authorized statement of AFC's practices with respect to the online collection of personally identifiable information and usage of such information through the Site. Any summaries of this Policy generated by third-party software or otherwise (for example, in connection with the "Platform for Privacy Preferences" or "P3P") shall have no legal effect, are in no way binding upon AFC, shall not be relied upon as a substitute for this Policy, and neither supersede nor modify this Policy.
AFC collects two types of information about visitors
to the Site ("Visitors"): (a) "Personally
Identifiable Information" -that is, information from which
an individual can be identified, such as an individual's full name
and email address-that Visitors provide when using certain of the
Site's services (including but not limited to submitting feedback
about the Site or a specific school, or utilizing the Site's "Problem
Solver" feature to compose and/or forward a letter); and (b) "Tracking
Data," which is automatically collected from every Visitor
while visiting or using the Site. We also collect information from
Visitors through the use of "cookies." Our collection of Personally
Identifiable Information and Tracking Data, as well as our use of
cookies, is described in more detail below.
Personally Identifiable Information. You do not have
to provide Personally Identifiable Information to visit or use the
Site in general. For example, you can search for and research particular
schools or information for parents of kids who attend, or who seek
to attend, New York City public schools without providing any Personally
Identifiable Information to AFC. However, particular services made
available through the Site may require you to submit Personally Identifiable
Information-for example, signing up for email updates or using Problem
Solver. We collect such Personally Identifiable Information only when
you affirmatively provide it to us, for example, when you compose
a letter. Remember that no Personally Identifiable Information is
actually submitted to us through the Site until you click the "SUBMIT"
or similar button on the form into which you have entered such information.
If you contact us by email through the Site, we may keep a record of your contact information and correspondence, and we may use your email address, and any information you provide in your message, to respond to your message.
Tracking Data. Tracking Data consists of information
we collect automatically from each Visitor, such as browser type,
operating system, Internet service provider, IP address, and referring
page or site. Tracking Data is not associated with individuals in
a personally-identifiable manner. Tracking Data may include information
such as the total number of your Site or page visits and the average
time you spend on a page or area of the Site. Collecting Tracking
Data is a standard practice on the Internet and is done automatically
by most websites. We use the Tracking Data to conduct, and possibly
provide to third parties, aggregate analyses of Site traffic patterns.
Cookies. Cookies are small data files containing
information that is written to a website visitor's hard drive by a
web server. The Site currently uses cookies for temporary session
support only. The cookies used on the Site do not collect any Personally
Identifiable Data. Cookies, are an industry-standard technology used
by most websites and are not designed to cause damage to your computer
systems or files.
If you do not want information to be collected about you through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure built into most web browsers that allows you to automatically decline cookies, or to be given the choice of declining or accepting the transfer of cookies to your computer. Note, however, that declining cookies may prevent a Visitor from using certain of the Site's services.
Services. The Site enables parents,
guardians and other interested individuals to submit feedback about
specific schools and/or compose and forward to appropriate officials
letters on issues of concern in connection with specific schools.
The Site makes available important information about New York City's
public school system and schools, when finding out such information
otherwise can be difficult and confusing. As a result, we encourage
you to participate and contribute by sharing your experiences with
other Site Visitors by sending letters through "Problem Solver" and
submitting feedback about schools.
Because the basic purpose of the Site is to disseminate information collected through the Site as widely as possible to interested individuals, and, notwithstanding any other provision of this Policy, AFC may, although we are not required to, make publicly available any such information by posting it on the Site or distributing it in other ways, provided that we do so without posting or distributing Personally Identifiable Information about you or your child in connection with such information.
AFC keeps records in our database of the information you submit, including Personally Identifiable Information, when composing letters and providing feedback in order to track (1) the types of problems parents confront in schools generally, as well as (2) the success of individual parents in resolving specific problems about which they wrote to school officials using "Problem Solver". Upon your request, we will make reasonable efforts to remove your Personally Identifiable Data from our active databases.
Problem Solver. If you use "Problem Solver" to forward
a letter to appropriate officials, you may choose to "opt in" to allow
us to forward a copy of your letter, which includes Personally Identifiable
Information, to parent organizing groups. Please note that we are
not responsible for retracting Personally Identifiable Information
from such organizations once it has been shared pursuant to the terms
and conditions of this policy.
In addition, please remember that the recipients of the letters you create using "Problem Solver" will also have access to your Personally Identifiable Information. If you do not want to share certain information with such recipients, do not include it in your letter.
Email Updates. If you sign up to submit feedback,
use "Problem Solver", or receive email updates and you do not "opt
out" of receiving email alerts about developments concerning New York's
public schools and related issues, we will from time to time send
such emails to you at the address you provide. These emails will clearly
provide you with a method of "opting out" of receiving future communications
of a similar nature.
Disclosure to Service Providers. AFC works with third
parties who provide services that may include, but are not necessarily
limited to, website hosting, internet services, data analysis, and
other services of an administrative or technical nature. AFC reserves
the right to share Personally Identifiable Information with such third
parties for the purpose of providing such services.
Use of Email Addresses In Sending Notices Regarding the Site
and Our Policies. From time to time, in our sole discretion,
we may email information regarding the use of the Site or its services,
or changes to our Terms of Use or this Policy,
to Visitors who have provided us (whether through a specific Site
service, an email link, or otherwise) with their respective email
addresses.
Other Disclosures. Finally-and notwithstanding any
other provision of this Privacy Policy-AFC reserves the right to disclose
Personally Identifiable Information about our Visitors to third parties
under any of the following circumstances: when we believe in good
faith that the law permits it (for example, in response to a court
order or a subpoena); to our legal advisors; to enforce our Terms
of Use; to protect the rights, property, safety or security of
AFC, our Visitors, or the public; or to respond to an emergency. We
also reserve the right to report any suspected illegal activity to
law enforcement individuals or entities for investigation or prosecution.
Except as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy, we do not currently share your Personally Identifiable Information with third parties.
Security. AFC has security measures in
place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of that
Visitor information which is under our control. Unfortunately, no
security system, or system of transmitting data over the Internet,
can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive
to protect your Personally Identifiable Information, we cannot guarantee
the security of our servers, the means by which information is transmitted
between AFC's servers and your or any third parties' computer(s),
or any information provided to, through or in connection with the
Site, and you provide all such information at your own risk.
Correcting Your Information. Upon your request, we
will make reasonable efforts to remove your Personally Identifiable
Information from our active databases. To make this request, please
contact us
and ask to remove your Personally Identifiable Information from our
active databases. Such information will be deactivated as soon as
reasonably possible. Please note that we may need to retain certain
information for record-keeping purposes, and there may also be residual
information that will remain within our databases and other records.
We reserve the right, from time to time, to re-contact former Visitors
of the Site.
Third Party Sites, Email Addresses and Services.
Third parties may collect information about you, through cookies or
other technologies, when you link to their websites from the Site
or when you contact them through email links on the Site. Your Internet
or other service provider(s) may also collect information about or
submitted by you while you use the Site or other websites on the Internet.
You acknowledge that we do not monitor or control the websites or
information collection or privacy practices of these or any other
third parties, and are not responsible for their practices or the
content of their websites or services or any other conduct in which
they engage. We provide links on the Site to third-party sites and
email addresses only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link
on our Site does not imply our endorsement of the linked site. You
should review the privacy policies of such third parties to understand
how they collect and use information.
Specific Exclusions. This Privacy Policy does not
restrict or prohibit AFC's use or disclosure of public information
or of information that was not provided by Visitors themselves to
AFC. Furthermore, AFC reserves the right to transfer any and all information
that we collect from Visitors, or that we otherwise collect in connection
with the Site, to a third party in the event that we sell or transfer
substantially all of our assets related to the Site to such third
party.
Changes to This Policy. You will always be able to
determine when this Policy was last revised by checking the "Last
revised" legend at the top of the Policy. We reserve the right to
make changes to this Policy from time to time, which we may provide
to you by any reasonable means including, but not limited to, posting
the revised draft of the Policy on the Site. Your continued use of
the Site following changes to the Policy will signify your acceptance
of those changes.
Online vs. Offline Practices. Please note that this
Privacy Policy applies solely to our online information-gathering
and dissemination practices in connection with the Site, and does
not apply to any of our practices conducted offline.
Questions. If you have any questions regarding AFC's
Privacy Policy, please contact us.
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