PRIVACY STATEMENT
This Privacy Statement governs the Herdict Web project ("Herdict Web") at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society ("BCIS"), which includes the Herdict Web Site (the "Herdict Web Site"), the Herdict Reporter (a part of the Herdict Web Site) (the "Reporter"), the Herdict Commons (a part of the Herdict Web Site) (the “Herdict Commons”), and the Herdict Web Browser Add-on (the "Add-on"). For the purposes of this Privacy Statement, “Herdict” will be used to refer to BCIS, Herdict Web, the Herdict Web Materials, and any other associated projects, web sites, or services. For more information on how Herdict Web works, click here.
We are committed to respecting and protecting your personal privacy. This Privacy Statement describes what information the site collects, how this information is used, and with whom we may share the information. Your submission of data to the site indicates your agreement with the terms of the Privacy Statement. Because this statement may change, please check back for updates to this Privacy Statement.
Continue reading to learn what data we collect and what we will and will not do with it.
Information Collected
What we collect:
Herdict Web logs the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using when you visit any part of the site, the browser version that you are using to access the site, and the operating system installed and running on the computer that you are using, as well as information about navigation through pages of the site. Herdict Web does this through the use of session cookies, which are temporary files that are erased when you close all browser windows. These cookies are in place to help the site work properly and to improve the user experience and will not be used to track your individual use of the site.
We also may use these logs or other information you provide us, including publicly available information posted to the Herdict Commons, to compile aggregate data for research purposes. We may share such information, other than your email address, with third parties who are engaged in research that we believe in good faith is legitimate and who agree to use the information for research purposes only. This information will be studied and/or shared only in the aggregate, and never in connection with your personally identifying information.
While it is our standard policy not to use IP address logs to track the sessions of individual users, there are some important exceptions. These exceptions include cases of reported violations of our Terms of Service, and in cases where we are required to so by law enforcement (see “Disclosure of Information to Law Enforcement” below).
If you choose to sign up for a Herdict Commons account, you will need to provide us with a username, password, and email address. That email address will be used for the purposes of account registration verification, as well as any occasional necessary communications directly related to the logistics of your account. If you elect to sign up for additional opt-in emails from Herdict Commons, such as newsletters or emailed alerts about activity on the site, we will use your email address only for the purpose of sending you those additional messages for which you have opted in. We will not share your email address with any other parties without your consent.
Users may also be able to sign up with an OpenID account, in which case we will collect your OpenID nickname, identity URL, and email address upon registration. We may also allow users to log in using their Twitter account, in which case we collect information according to their Terms of Service. Please review their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy before logging in with your Twitter account. In the future, we may allow users to log in using account information from other third-party services. In such cases, we will collect information according to the Terms and Conditions of those services, and ask that you review their Terms and Privacy Policies before logging in using such accounts.
Reporter and Add-on
The Reporter transmits to our servers the URL of the reported site, the IP address of the reported site, your IP address, whatever information you have provided in the fields next to the buttons labeled "Page," "Country," "ISP," "Access Location," "Tags," and "Comments," and whether you marked a particular web site Accessible or Inaccessible. In addition, any reports made through the Add-on will transmit the same information to our servers. Some of these fields may be pre-populated based on your location (as determined by your IP address). Note that the complete URL of the site visited may not be collected -- the Reporter and the Add-on do not always collect the URLs of individual Web pages. For example, if you visit http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/about, the Reporter and the Add-on may only collect "cyber.law.harvard.edu." You do not need to provide your email address to use the Reporter or the Add-on. However, you may voluntarily provide your email address to Herdict Web to receive notifications of updates regarding our project. There is a separate field on the Herdict Web Site in which to enter your e-mail address for this purpose.
Publicly Submitted Information
If you elect to sign up for and participate in the Herdict Commons community, any content you contribute or other information you submit to public areas of the site may be publicly displayed, including personally identifying information. This includes information you include in your public user profile, and information you include in messages posted to the community forums. Your user name is displayed to viewers of Herdict Commons along with messages or other information that you publicly submit. Much of the content available on Herdict Commons is created by users of the site, and not by Herdict or its staff and affiliates.
Should you include additional personally identifying information in messages you post to Herdict Commons, your user profile, or other parts of the site, please note that this information will be publicly viewable. We do not ask you for personally identifying information, and we strongly encourage you not to include such information in your posts to Herdict Commons, except for the minimum amount necessary to make use of the help available from the Herdict Commons community.
What we'll do with it:
We will use the collected information to make aggregate statistics publicly available on the Herdict Web Site. We may also use the information for research purposes in conjunction with third-parties. The URLs that you submit, and the contents of the "ISP," "Tags," and "Comments" fields you submit with the URLs, will be available for others to see on the Herdict Web Site. The URLs that you submit (and the corresponding web sites) may also be reviewed to determine whether the web site contains adult material and the like. Herdict Web will use your e-mail address, if you choose to voluntarily provide it, to notify you of updates to our project, including, for example, new releases to our software.
All of your stored data may be accessed by our system administrators. Because Herdict Web is part of the BCIS, which is run by Harvard University, the administrators may produce these records and data to Harvard's Administrative Dean, Dean of Students, or the Administrative Board, upon request or suspected violation of our Terms and Conditions.
Google Analytics
We make some of the information the site automatically collects available to Google Inc. for the purpose of using Google Analytics, a service that helps us to better understand how our visitors use Herdict and how the site can be improved. This information may include IP addresses and browser versions used by visitors, the pages visited on the site, and other information. This data is analyzed in the aggregate, and individuals are not tracked. No personally identifying information will be submitted to Google for the purposes of the Google Analytics service, and Google Analytics is governed by Google, Inc.’s Privacy Policy. We also reserve the right to use additional web site analytics services provided by vendors in addition to Google, Inc. in the future, so please check back for updates to this section.
Disclosure of Information to Law Enforcement
If we receive a warrant or subpoena for user information, including information colleted from you during report submission, or are otherwise legally compelled to provide such information, we may disclose requested records to law enforcement authorities or outside parties seeking information through the legal process. In the event that we are required by law (including a court order) to disclose the information you submit, and we have your contact information, we will provide you with notice (unless we are prohibited from doing so) that a request for your information has been made so that you may object to the disclosure. We will send this notice by e-mail to the address you have given us. We prefer to independently object to overbroad requests for access to information about users of the Herdict Web Site, but we do not know that we will be able to do so in all cases. If you do not challenge the disclosure request yourself, we may be legally required to turn over your information, including information you submitted in your reports.
What we won't do with it:
We will never publicly display your IP address on the Herdict Web Site. We will never rent or sell your information to anyone. We will not share your name or e-mail address with third parties except with your consent, and only on the condition that the third parties agree not to use your name or e-mail for commercial purposes.
Add-on Users Only
If you have installed the Add-on, the following default browsing actions occur whenever you direct your browser to a new Web site, regardless of whether you make a report:
-The Add-on collects the URL of each site that you visit, together with your IP address. This information is transmitted to our servers.
-Our servers look in a database to see if other users can see the site at that URL, and the result is transmitted back to the Add-on and appears as an orange, yellow, gray, or green sheep icon.
-Your IP address and the URL visited are not used for any other purposes; however, they may be retained indefinitely in our server logs. You may install the Add-on but choose to opt out of the default browsing actions. If you do so, whenever you direct your browser to a new Web site, the Add-on will no longer collect the URL of each site that you visit or your IP address, with the exception that any reports you make through the Add-on will still cause the Add-on to collect this information.
Jurisdiction
Herdict Web is based in the United States, and the servers and data processors used to maintain this site are located in the U.S. Please note that any personally identifiable information we obtain about you will be stored under U.S. privacy standards and regulations.
Links to Independent Web Sites
Pages hosted by the site may link to independently-run web sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such web sites.
Children’s Privacy
You must be at least 13 years of age to submit information to the Herdict Web Site. The site is intended for adults and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years old. If you are a parent or legal guardian of a child under age 13 who you believe has submitted personal information to the site, please contact us immediately at contact at herdict dot org.
Changes to the Privacy Statement
We retain the right to make changes, in our sole discretion, to this Privacy Statement. Any changes will be reflected in the Privacy Statement when the changes take effect. The privacy policies that apply to any information you submit will be those contained in the Privacy Statement that is in effect and posted on the site at the time that you submit the information. Please review the Privacy Statement each time you use the site.
Effective Date
This Privacy Statement is effective as of November 1, 2009.
Contacting Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, you may contact us by email at contact at herdict dot org, or by mail to:
Herdict
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138
