Privacy Policy
1. Policy
The policy of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (the "Lawyers' Committee") is to respect and protect the privacy of our users. This Privacy Policy is a part of the Terms and Conditions of the Lawyers' Committee's websites (the "Site"), www.lawyerscommittee.org, www.866ourvote.org, and www.preventloanscams.org, which are binding on all Site users.
The Lawyers' Committee includes as part of its mission, the effort to build users' trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting fair information practices. To fulfill this mission, the Lawyers' Committee agrees to exercise reasonable precautions to maintain the confidentiality of information provided by you in connection with accessing and using the Site.
Because we gather certain types of personally identifiable information ("Personal Information") from users of the Site, it is important for you to know how we collect, use, disclose, manage, and store the Personal Information that you may voluntarily provide us as well as the Personal Information that is collected passively through the use of cookies or image tags on the Site. The Lawyers' Committee agrees to post prominently and in plain language its specific privacy policies.
This Privacy Policy sets forth the Lawyers' Committee's current policies and practices with respect to Personal Information of the users of the Site. Your continued participation on this Site indicates your acceptance of this Privacy Policy and of the collection, use, disclosure, management and storage of your Personal Information as described below.
2. Collection and Use of Information
Generally, you may browse the Site without providing any Personal Information. We do not collect Personal Information about individuals except when specifically and knowingly provided by such individuals. The Site provides certain activities where we gather Personal Information from users of the Site, such as an activity that requires that a user complete a registration process. Registration to participate in these Site activities may require the submission of your full name, postal address, e-mail address, and other Personal Information. You will also have the ability to opt-in to additional mailing list services, such as e-mail news alerts.
Unless otherwise provided in a separate registration page, we do not request contact information for a mobile phone, text messaging or any wireless device that includes a domain name address (such as "wireless.bellsouth.com") as part of the contact information. Federal law prohibits the sending of commercial e-mail messages directly to a wireless device that uses a domain name, unless you have first given your affirmative consent. We may inadvertently collect a wireless device number that includes a domain name when you send us an inquiry or register for the mailing list. However, we will not knowingly use that contact information for sending commercial e-mail.
We use your Personal Information to provide you with the services you request and to respond to billing and/or other such questions related to the Lawyers' Committee or the Site. We may also use your Personal Information to notify you about updates, action alerts, new features, and activities on behalf of the Lawyers' Committee or the Site that may be of interest to you.
From time to time, we may post information about job opportunities on the Site. If interested in learning more about these opportunities, you can submit a resume and a cover letter. Applications will be handled by our employment committee and we will make reasonable efforts to review the applications in a timely fashion. We will share your application with members of the staff to assess the application's qualifications. We will not distribute or share Personal Information submitted in relation to employment with any third party without your consent.
We may also use your Personal Information for operational and business purposes, or to find out how we can improve our organization and Site via surveys or online tracking mechanisms. We use aggregate Personal Information collected directly during the registration process and via cookies to help us evaluate and modify existing services and features, as well as provide demographic and geographic information to Advertisers. (For more information on "cookies" and our policy on the use of cookies see below). We also use your Personal Information to develop new services and features that may be of interest to you.
3. Disclosure of Information
We will not sell, exchange, rent, lease or otherwise disclose your Personal Information or sensitive Personal Information to any third party without your consent. However, the Lawyers' Committee may disclose Personal Information in special cases: (1) when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) the rights of the Lawyers' Committee or to anyone that could be harmed by such activities, including threats to the physical safety of any person; (2) when we believe in good faith that the law requires it; and (3) to any affiliate or to any third party who may acquire the Lawyers' Committee.
4. How You Can Review or Correct Your Personal Information
You may contact the Lawyers' Committee by e-mail at webadmin@lawyerscommittee.org to ask if we are keeping Personal Information about you. If we do have Personal Information about you, we will provide you with a readable copy of such Personal Information at no charge. Factual errors in your Personal Information, including out-of-date information, can be corrected by sending us a request that credibly shows our error.
5. Information-Sharing Disclosure Request
You may request a Notice of Information-Sharing Disclosure which will identify the third parties with whom the Lawyers' Committee has shared the information we have collected from you. You may request the Notice of Information-Sharing Disclosure by writing us at Privacy Administrator, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, 1401 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C 20005. You may also send us your Notice of Information-Sharing Disclosure request via e-mail at webadmin@lawyerscommittee.org or by telephone at 202-662-8600. We will respond to your request for a Notice of Information-Sharing Disclosure within thirty (30) days of receipt.
6. Opt-Out Procedures
You may always opt-out of receiving communications from us. To remove any Personal Information from our database or to not receive future e-mail communications from the Lawyers' Committee, send an e-mail to webadmin@lawyerscommittee.org with the word "REMOVE" in the subject line. Further, if you do not want your Personal Information to be shared with third parties in the manner discussed in Section 3, "Disclosure of Information," please notify the Lawyers' Committee by telephone at (202) 662-8600, by e-mail to webadmin@lawyerscommittee.org or at the following address:
Privacy Administrator
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
7. Security of Information
You can be assured that the Personal Information collected through the Site is secure and is maintained in a manner consistent with current industry standards. The importance of security for all Personal Information associated with our subscribers is of utmost concern to us. Your Personal Information is protected in several ways. Your Personal Information resides on a secure server that only selected Lawyers' Committee employees and contractors have access to via password. We encrypt your Personal Information and thereby prevent unauthorized parties from viewing such information when it is transmitted to us.
In order to most efficiently serve you, credit card transactions are handled by established third-party banking, processing agents and distribution institutions. They receive the information needed to verify and authorize your credit card or other payment information and to process and ship your order. Financial transactions related to your purchases from the Lawyers' Committee are handled by PayPal and Wired for Change. Information relating to your financial transactions will not be maintained on the Lawyers' Committee servers. Please visit the Web sites of PayPal and Wired for Change to familiarize yourself with its terms and conditions and with its privacy policies.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your Personal Information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control; (b) the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through the Site cannot be guaranteed; and (c) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party.
8. "Cookies"
You should be aware that non-Personal Information and data may be automatically collected on the Site through the use of "cookies." "Cookies" are small text files (no larger than 4k) stored as text on a computer hard drive. Websites can use "cookies" to recognize repeat visitors, facilitate the visitor's ongoing access to and use of the site, and allow a site to track usage behavior and compile aggregate data that will allow content improvements. "Cookies" are not programs that come onto a visitor's system and damage files. The use of "cookies" is common in the Internet industry, and many major websites use them to provide useful features to their customers. Generally "cookies" work by assigning a unique number to the visitor that has no meaning outside the assigning site. If a visitor does not want information collected through the use of "cookies", there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows the visitor to deny or accept the cookie feature. The Lawyers' Committee uses "cookie" technology but only to obtain non-Personal Information from online visitors in order to improve their online experience and facilitate their visit within the Site.
9. Links to Third Party Web sites
The Site may contain links to the websites of third parties not affiliated with the Lawyers' Committee, including without limitation, Wired for Change. You understand, acknowledge and agree that these links are provided solely as a convenience to you and not as an endorsement by the Site or the Lawyers' Committee of the content, advertising or business practices. The Lawyers' Committee is NOT responsible for the privacy practices or the content on any of these other websites, including any sites that may indicate a special relationship or "partnership" with the Lawyers' Committee. The Lawyers' Committee does not disclose unique identifiers to those responsible for the linked sites. The linked sites, however, may collect Personal Information from you when you link to their sites. This collecting of information is not subject to the control of the Lawyers' Committee. To ensure protection of your privacy, always review the privacy policies of the sites you visit by linking from the Site.
10. Our Commitment to Children's Privacy
Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. We never collect or maintain information at the Site from persons we know to be under age 18, and no part of our Site is designed to attract anyone under age 18. Please do not communicate with or contact us if you are under age 18. By your participation in our Site activities, you certify that you are at least 18 years of age and meet any other eligibility requirements of the Site.
11. Changes to this Privacy Policy
The Lawyers' Committee may revise this Privacy Policy over time as new features are added to the Site or as Internet law and standards evolve. We will post those changes prominently but we do recommend that you read this Privacy Policy each time you visit the Site. Changes will not apply retroactively to Personal Information that was collected before the changes to the Privacy Policy, except as may be required by law.
Effective Date: February 17, 2010
