About Our Website
The National Academy of Sciences, a private, nonprofit corporation chartered by an act of Congress, and the organizations formed under its congressional charter, the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine, and National Research Council are collectively referred to herein as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine or as “the Academies.” The privacy statement specified herein apply to all Web pages and websites created by the Academies, including all affiliates, offices, divisions, boards, and committees thereof.
Information Collected and Stored Automatically
The Academies record the following information automatically for all website visitors; the IP address from which you access the Internet, the date and time, the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site, the name of the file or the words you searched, and the browser used to access our site.
Some public areas of our site use customized JavaScript code to record this same information in a statistics log.
We use this information to measure the number of visitors to the various sections of our site and identify system performance or problem areas. We may also use this information to help us expand the coverage of our websites and to make the websites more useful.
Cookies
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing information useful for the user's Web interactions. The Academies do not use cookies to store personal data or link non-personal information stored in cookies with personal data about specific individuals. The Academies use cookies primarily to provide general Web analytics. Some optional or customizable features of our website require that the user's browser accept a cookie. The cookie information does not include personal data such as name, age, phone number, email address, or mailing address.
Information You Submit to Message Boards and Other Public Areas
Information submitted to public message boards and other public interactive Web pages is available to the general public. The email address of users who post such information will be available to anyone who browses or uses the message area. The Academies does not control the sending or receiving of email messages as a result of postings to our websites.
Sharing Personal Data with Third Parties
If a user accesses a Web page on the Academies website to subscribe to one of our publications, log in to gain access to specific areas of the Academies' websites, purchase a book or other product, or request to be added to an electronic mailing list maintained by the Academies (“subscription Web page”), we may ask for contact information such as name, address, and email address. We may store this information and may use it to contact you. Your participation and the provision of such information are entirely voluntary.
The use or disclosure by the Academies of such information you provide on or in response to a subscription Web page (such as making subscription lists available to others) is subject to the terms and conditions, if any, set forth on each subscription Web page, and unless stated otherwise on the subscription Web page, such information you provide is not shared with third parties except as provided below. You will be able to opt out of communications from our partners.
The Academies may share personal data that is disclosed on or in response to a subscription Web page with its consultants or affiliates for internal business purposes and may also disclose personal data if such data is required by law.
Use of Third-Party Services
The Academies may use third-party services to better engage with our visitors or to collect data by means of forms, surveys, subscriptions, or other online data entry mechanisms. We are not responsible for the terms of service or privacy policies of any third- party service providers. Information you provide through these third-party services may be shared with the Academies. Any information shared will be treated by the Academies as if you have provided it to the Academies directly as described in the Sharing Personal Data with Third Parties section above.
Technical Feedback
The Academies may request technical information regarding the operation and functioning of our websites from users through surveys. Survey participation is completely voluntary and the user has a choice whether to disclose any information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and email address) and demographic information (such as zip code and age). Technical feedback received is used to respond to the user's question or comment and to improve our websites. Personally identifiable data submitted by the user for this purpose is not used for other purposes.
For Parents and Guardians
On the Academies' websites there are activities in which children can participate without having to share personally identifiable information. For those activities that may require personally identifiable information, we will not condition a child's participation on the disclosure of more personally identifiable information than is reasonably necessary to administer the activity. We may collect the child's name and online contact information to obtain parental consent or provide parents with notice, respond directly to a child's specific request, or to comply with legal requirements. Unless we indicate otherwise on the specific website in question and obtain prior parental consent, personally identifiable information collected from children will be used solely by us or our agents and will not be sold or otherwise transferred to third parties. We do not monitor public areas of our website for use by minors, and minors and parents should use caution when participating in such activities.
Public Access Records
Electronic comments submitted in connection with or in response to a request for input in connection with a study committee created by the Academies will become part of the public record of that project unless indicated on the specific Web page in question. Participation is completely voluntary and the user has a choice whether or not to disclose any information.
Links
Our Web pages may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites. Websites maintained by third parties may collect information and use it in a way inconsistent with this privacy statement. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our websites and to read carefully the privacy statements of each website they visit.
Financial Information
The Academies recognize the importance of protecting the financial information of users of this website that may be collected in connection with the purchase of books, periodicals, or other products, or when making a charitable contribution. Such online transactions may require credit card and personal contact information. We will use your credit card number only to process the payment and not for any other purpose. Specific security provisions may be detailed on specific Web pages. If you complete a financial transaction, the financial data is stored and shared with the necessary third parties to complete the transaction.
Changes to this Statement
The Academies reserve the right to change this privacy statement at any time. We will use data in accordance with the privacy statement under which any data has been collected. Questions should be directed to WebPrivacy@nas.edu.