Online Privacy Policy Effective Date: March 23, 2010
This Online Privacy Policy is intended to describe how Bay Area Women Against Rape ("BAWAR") handles information gathered at www.bawar.org ("BAWAR.org"). By visiting BAWAR.org you agree to follow the terms and conditions of this Online Privacy Policy. BAWAR may change these terms and conditions from time to time without prior notification, so please consult these terms and conditions regularly for any such changes.
Your privacy and security are very important to us. The following information will help you understand what information we collect online, and how we handle that information once we collect it. This policy will tell you if we disclose that information to anyone, and what choices you have regarding how we use that information. Please note that this Online Privacy Policy applies only to BAWAR.org and not to the websites of any other organizations to which we may link or that may link to us.
Personally Identifiable Information:
General. In general, visitors may browse BAWAR.org without being requested to reveal any Personally Identifiable Information. However, there are pages on BAWAR.org, such as donation pages, where we may request Personally Identifiable Information about you, such as your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, or credit card number. BAWAR.org may also collect information such as your computer's IP address. BAWAR may seek such information in order to register you as a supporter of BAWAR, to enable your making a donation or purchasing merchandise, or to use certain parts of the BAWAR.org website. In addition, we may use such information to analyze site usage for BAWAR.org, to improve our content, to better understand our member and supporter base and to customize our site's content, layout, and services. Finally, we may use your e-mail address to send you updates or newsletters apprising you of recent events and developments relating to BAWAR and its mission, or receipts for your charitable donations.
Other Uses. We may use internal service providers to facilitate our services, and, therefore, may provide some of your Personally Identifiable Information directly to them. In addition, we may employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf, such as website hosting, data analysis, and providing customer service. These companies and individuals will only have access to Personally Identifiable Information needed to perform their functions, and may not use it for any other purpose.
Opt-Out Procedures: When you register at BAWAR.org, we may send you e-mails or newsletters, to update you on events and developments pertinent to BAWAR and our charitable goals. If you do not want to receive such e-mails, please unsubscribe here and we will remove you from our lists. Note that donation and/or volunteer information will remain in BAWAR's databases.
Aggregate Data & Cookies: We automatically gather, or aggregate, certain usage information, such as the number and frequency of visitors to BAWAR.org, length of stay, and other anonymous data. This data helps us determine usage levels on different parts of BAWAR.org, and to conduct other internal research. In addition, we may aggregate such data and disclose it in a non-personally identifiable manner to sponsors, supporters, and other third parties, to generate support for BAWAR, its mission and its services, or as required by law. In these situations, we do not disclose any information that could be used to identify you personally.
For example, BAWAR.org uses "session ID cookies." In general, a "cookie" is a small piece of text data stored on a user's computer by a website, in order to give that computer a unique identity to the website while performing certain processes, such as filling an online shopping cart and checking out, or calculating the number of unique visitors at a given time. Cookies may contain personal information, like email addresses, usernames, or passwords, or completely anonymous information, like a randomly generated number. They may be deleted once a user leaves the site, leaves a section of the site, or closes the browser; or they may remain, so that the website "remembers" the user when he or she next visits.
On BAWAR.org, we use two session ID cookies. The first is used to measure the amount of overall traffic on our website; we use this data only in the aggregate, meaning no individual user can be identified from the data. This cookie is in no way linked to Personally Identifiable Information, and is deleted from the user's computer when the user closes his or her browser. The second session ID cookie is only used when a user is making a donation or purchasing merchandise. This cookie carries a user's form entries from one page to another, and is deleted once the user leaves the "Donate" section of BAWAR.org. We do not use permanent cookies, which retain information past a user's current visit.
How We Protect Your Security
BAWAR stores all information on a secure server that is only accessible by BAWAR employees or contractors, pursuant to the terms described above.
We employ different security techniques to protect your personal information from unauthorized access by users inside and outside of our organization, including standard encryption practices. You should be aware, however, that "perfect security" does not exist anywhere on the Internet. ALTHOUGH WE BELIEVE WE TAKE APPROPRIATE MEASURES TO SAFEGUARD AGAINST UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURES OF INFORMATION, WE CANNOT ASSURE YOU THAT YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION OR COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE ONLINE FORMS WILL NEVER BE DISCLOSED IN A MANNER INCONSISTENT WITH THIS POLICY, AND MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES REGARDING THE SUFFICIENCY OF OUR SECURITY MEASURES.
Always be careful and responsible regarding your personal information. We are not responsible for, and cannot control, the use by others of any information which you provide or divulge to others, purposefully or inadvertently, including your e-mail address and password for BAWAR.org. For more information on how to keep your computer safe, please read our User Safety Procedures.
How We May Share Information
We do not publish, sell, share, or rent information about you in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement. However, we, including trained volunteers, may be forced to disclose information to the government or third parties under certain circumstances. We may be required to (and you authorize us to) reveal any information about you that we possess to law enforcement or other government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe is necessary or appropriate, in connection with the investigation of a crime, mandatory reporting laws, fraud, intellectual property infringement, or other activity that is illegal, or may expose us, or you, to liability. Also, if we, or a trained volunteer, fear that you are in danger of committing suicide, or are under 13 years old, we, or the trained volunteer, may be required to disclose whatever information you have provided to the appropriate authorities.
The data that we collect, and therefore may share, is limited in the manner described above.
Our Policy Towards Children
We are concerned about the safety and privacy of children who use the Internet. Consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, we will never knowingly request Personally Identifiable Information from anyone under the age of 13 without prior verifiable parental consent. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with Personally Identifiable Information through BAWAR.org without verifiable parental consent, we will use our best efforts to remove such information from our files. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with Personally Identifiable Information through BAWAR.org without verifiable parental consent, he or she should contact BAWAR at (510) 430-1298 or bawar@bawar.org.
Other Information Collectors
Except as otherwise expressly included in this Online Privacy Policy, this document addresses the use and disclosure of information that we collect from you. If you disclose your information to others, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of such information. We do not control the privacy policies of others. We encourage you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others.
Your Consent and Changes in Privacy Pledge
By using the BAWAR.org, you consent to the terms set forth in this Privacy Policy and the Website User Agreement. We may, from time to time, make changes to this Online Privacy Policy, based on your comments and our need to reflect accurately our data collection and disclosure practices. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use your personal information, this page will be updated on BAWAR.org.
If you have any questions or suggestions about this privacy policy, please contact BAWAR@BAWAR.org. Alternatively, you can mail BAWAR at:
Bay Area Women Against Rape
470 27th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Please only address questions about the privacy pledge to the above address. If you are concerned about a specific page, please email BAWAR@BAWAR.org.
