Privacy Policy

CDT has worked hard to bring you an informative, user-friendly, and privacy-protecting Web site. We have designed this Privacy Policy to explain how your information is collected and used when you visit this Web site.

For more information about the tools that enabled us to create a privacy-protective site and the challenges we faced while building the site, please read our blog entry on the topic. For more information about protecting your privacy on the Internet, check out CDT’s Privacy Guide (http://www.cdt.org/privacy/guide/).

CDT does not sell, rent, exchange or otherwise disclose our mailing lists or information about our site visitors, except when compelled by law (we discuss this exception in greater detail here).

This Privacy Policy covers CDT’s main Web site at cdt.org, as well as other CDT-created or CDT-maintained sites that link directly to this Policy. Such other sites may also provide supplemental information in a site-specific policy.

What information does CDT automatically collect when you visit our Web site?

When you visit any Web page hosted at our Web site, our we will record the following information about you in our log files:

• Internet Protocol (IP) address - The address of your computer on the Internet. Your IP address gets transmitted whenever you communicate online or surf the Web so that the content you are looking at and the people you are talking to can find your computer on the network.
• Browser type, version, and operating system –Knowing the browsers (for example, Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 3.5.3) and operating systems (for example Windows XP or Mac OS X) used by our visitors helps us optimize the display and delivery of our site for visitors accessing it from differing software platforms.
• Screen size - Knowing the screen sizes used by our visitors helps us optimize the display and delivery of our site for visitors.
• Technologies supported by your browser for Java, Adobe Flash, Adobe Director, and Adobe PDF, and the audio formats supported by your browser for RealPlayer, QuickTime, and Windows Media Player – Knowing the formats supported by visitors’ browsers helps us optimize the content on our site for visitors accessing it with different browser configurations.
• URL of the page that directed you to our site – If you arrive at our Web site through a link on another Web site - a blog, newspaper article, or search engine, for example - our Web server will record the address of the Web page that referred you to our site. If you arrive at our Web site by clicking on a search result returned by a search engine, our server will record the search terms that you used.
• Whether you have bookmarked our Web site on your Web browser – This information is only reported for Internet Explorer users.
• The Web pages within our site that you visit, the Web page you visit first on our site (the entry page), and the Web page you visit last on our site (the exit page).
• Bandwidth used – The total number of bytes downloaded when you browse our site.
• Amount of time you spend during a visit to our site
• Time and date of your site visit
   

This individualized, non-aggregated data is stored in log files on our server that we will delete every 45 days. In the event of an attack on CDT's server, we may examine log files to ascertain the point of origin of the attack, but beyond the aggregated analysis described below, no other information from our log files is used. Log data is deleted every 45 days, and we do not have backup storage of the log files. Deleting your log files permanently erases them. For more information about the data we collect, you can visit http://awstats.sourceforge.net/.

Our site search function is supported by drupal (http://www.drupal.com/), an open source Content Management System. CDT does record search terms used in searches of our Web site. We will retain search terms for no more than 45 days. We do not correlate search term data with IP address or any other information about our visitors.

What do we do with the information we automatically collect?

Our Web site analytics program AWStats, (http://awstats.sourceforge.net/) analyzes the search logs before they are deleted, and extracts in aggregate form useful information from the data that our server automatically collects. Once extracted and aggregated, we are not able to reverse the process to reconstruct the log file information.

Our analytics program also performs a reverse DNS lookup on IP addresses in order to determine where your Internet service is based: much like your telephone number reveals where your phone service is based, your IP address can often reveal where your Internet service is based. For some IP addresses, our analytics program can determine where your Internet service is based down to the city level. If, for example, you access our Web site in Englewood, Colorado, then our analytics program will register this through an analysis of your IP address. All of the data obtained through a reverse DNS lookup is available to CDT only in aggregated form, and thus at no time are we able to connect your location to the specific web pages you viewed.

After aggregating all of the data, our analytics software creates reports on web site usage over one month. We also receive a basic breakdown of site activity (number of visits, the pages visited, the number of files requested from our server, and the bandwidth used) organized by day of the month, day of the week (for example, all visits on Fridays in August), and hour of the day (for example, all visits between 1:00am and 2:00am in August).

Consider, for example, a month during which five unique visitors come to our Web site. Our server would store logs containing the following hypothetical data (for brevity, not every data field is shown):

IP address	Browser type	Last visit	Hits	Referring URL
111.111.111.111	Firefox 3.5.3	30 Aug 2009 – 10:55	10	http://www.google.com/search?q=policybeta
111.222.222.222	Safari	21 Aug 2009 – 16:27	5	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Democracy_and_Technology
90.44.90.44	Internet Explorer 7.0	14 Aug 2009 – 9:03	7	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Harris
111.111.321.321	Safari	14 Aug 2009 – 14:45	22	http://www.google.com/search?q=cdt
111.333.333.333	Firefox 3.5.3	3 Aug 2009 – 10:10	8	----

Our analytics package would generate data such as the following based on these logs:

Our analytics package may also conduct reverse DNS lookups to determine site visitors’ approximate locations (see above) and deliver that information in the aggregate, like so:

Countries	Regions	Cities	Hits
United States	District of Columbia	Washington	32
France	Unknown	Paris	15
United States	Colorado	Englewood	5

CDT uses information that we automatically collect for internal purposes alone. We do not sell, rent, exchange or otherwise disclose any information that we automatically collect about our site visitors, unless required by law.

You can see a complete example of an AWStats analytics report at the Web site below:

http://www.nltechno.com/awstats/awstats.pl?config=destailleur.fr

For a list of tools that help you surf the Web more anonymously, see http://www.cdt.org/privacy/guide/tools.php.

We use the data we collect for the purposes of analyzing general traffic patterns and performing routine system maintenance. This information shows us which features are being used or read most often, from which areas of the country and the world our site is attracting visitors, and how people are finding our site. All of this information helps us determine how to make our Web site more accessible and useful.

What information can you choose to share with CDT?

Mailing Lists

Most pages of our Web site will provide a form where you may choose to enter your email address to sign up for our mailing list.

Feedback and Emailing Us

Some pages of our site will contain Web forms that you can use to provide feedback or otherwise contact us (or a staff member) via email.

Blog and Other Comments

On some pages of our Web site (including our blog), you can submit comments to be posted on our Web site.

How do we use the information you share with CDT?

Except as noted here, CDT uses information that you share with us only for internal purposes. We do not sell, rent, exchange or otherwise disclose any information that we collect about our site visitors, unless required by law. Specifics types of information include:

Mailing Lists

If you submit your email address to be added to a mailing list, we will use the email address for the sole purpose of sending you announcements and news bulletins. Each email we send will contain information on how to unsubscribe from our mailing list. You can also unsubscribe on our Web site.

Feedback and Emailing Us

We use your feedback to improve our site and our organization. If you choose to provide information about yourself using a feedback or email form on our Web site, we will not use the information for any purpose other than to respond to your inquiry or to act on your suggestion or comment. We will not share your information with others except with your permission or upon your request.

Blog and Other Comments

Comments you voluntarily post on public forums such as our blog will, of course, be displayed publicly along with the name you submit and the time at which you submitted the comment. If you comment as a registered user, then your username will be displayed along with your comment.

What information is collected by third parties on our Web site?

Our Web site contains some third-party media features that may use their own tracking technology, such as traditional cookies and Flash cookies (also known as Local Stored Objects). A traditional Internet cookie is a unique piece of text that a Web site, through your browser, saves on your computer's hard drive and retrieves when you revisit that Web site. Cookies are often used to track your behavior on the Internet. Compared to traditional cookies, Flash cookies have the capacity to store more data and may be more difficult to find on your computer and delete. Web browsers do not currently offer settings to prevent Flash cookies from being deposited on our computer.

For information about how to delete traditional cookies from your computer or to set your browser to refuse traditional cookies, see GetNetWise (http://privacy.getnetwise.org/browsing/tools/).For more information about how to delete Flash cookies from your computer, visit EPIC’s Flash Cookie Page (http://epic.org/privacy/cookies/flash.html) . For more information about cookies, you can read CDT’s tip sheet, Fourteen Ways to Protect Your Privacy Online (http://www.cdt.org/privacy/guide/basic/tips.php).

None of the third-party media features on our Web site will collect information about you unless you actively click on them (for example, pressing play to watch a video or to hear a podcast). The following media features will collect data from you when you choose to interact with their features on our Web site:

Embedded YouTube Videos

If you click to play a YouTube video that is embedded on our Web site, YouTube will deposit traditional cookies and Flash cookies on your computer. You can read YouTube’s Privacy Policy here (http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy).

Embedded Ustream Videos

If you click to play a Ustream video that is embedded on our Web site, Ustream will deposit traditional cookies and Flash cookies on your computer. You can read Ustream’s Privacy Policy here (http://www.ustream.tv/privacy-policy).

Embedded Vimeo Videos

If you click to play a Vimeo video that is embedded on our Web site, Vimeo will deposit traditional cookies and Flash cookies on your computer. You can read Vimeo’s Privacy Policy here (http://www.vimeo.com/privacy).

Tweet the Facts

Our “Tweet the Facts” service is offered by Twitter. To use this feature, you must enter your Twitter login information. This information is collected directly by Twitter and will not in any way be transmitted to or logged by CDT. You can find Twitter’s privacy policy here (https://twitter.com/privacy). Participating in “Tweet the Facts” will take you off of our Web site and on to Twitter’s Web site. This will not result in cookies being placed on your computer by our Web site, but may result in cookies being placed by Twitter.

Share on Facebook

You can share articles from our site on Facebook. To use this feature, you must enter your Facebook login information. This information is collected directly by Facebook, and will not in any way be transmitted to or logged by CDT. You can find Facebook’s privacy policy here (http://www.facebook.com/policy.php). Sharing articles on Facebook will take you off of our Web site and on to Facebook’s Web Site. This will not result in cookies being placed on your computer by our Web site, but may result in cookies being placed by Facebook.

Email a Friend

You can email articles from our site to friends. This feature uses a service called ShareThis. To use this feature, you must enter your and your friends’ email addresses. This information is collected directly by ShareThis, and will not in any way be transmitted to or logged by CDT. You can find the ShareThis privacy policy here (http://sharethis.com/privacy/). Please be aware that ShareThis may use your email address to contact you occasionally. Emailing articles to your friends will not result in cookies being placed on your computer.

Contact Your Representative

You can use our Web site to contact your representative about issues that are important to you. When you use this tool, which is provided by Democracy in Action, you will be asked to enter identifying information like your name and address. This information will be provided to your representative and will be placed in a database created by Democracy in Action that is accessible only to CDT. CDT will delete this information every two weeks and will not use it for any purpose. You can find Democracy in Action’s privacy policy here (http://www2.democracyinaction.org/privacypolicy).

CAPTCHA - Commenting on our Blog

If you choose to comment on our blog, we will ask you to complete a CAPTCHA, which involves identifying a blurry word to prove that you are a human and not a computer. When you complete the CAPTCHA, a traditional cookie will be deposited on your computer. This cookie is a session cookie, which means it will be automatically deleted when you close your Web browser.

Donate

If you choose to use our Web site to make a donation, your credit card information will be processed by PayPal, the third-party provider that handles our donations. You can read PayPal’s privacy policy here (https://cms.paypal.com/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=ua/Privacy_full&locale.x=en_US). CDT will not in any way receive or log your credit card information. However, we will record your name and contact information so that we can acknowledge and thank you for your donation, and answer any questions you may have about your donation. At the time of your donation, we may also ask whether we should include you on a list of supporters.

Our Disclosure Policies

CDT does not sell, rent, exchange or otherwise disclose any information that we collect about our site visitors. We will, however, comply with lawful requests from law enforcement that follow appropriate legal standards and procedures. If the law or a lawful order requires us to disclose information about your activities on our Web site, we will (unless prohibited by law from doing so) attempt to contact you prior to such disclosure, and attempt to disclose to you the fact that we have submitted information to legal authorities (including disclosing which information we have submitted). We will object to disclosure requests that we believe are improper.

Our Retention Policies

All data that is collected into log files by our Web server is deleted every 45 days. We do not have backup storage of our log files. Deleting our log files permanently erases them.

Aggregated data about visitors to our Web site – which cannot be linked back to individual visitors – is maintained indefinitely.

Email addresses submitted to subscribe to mailings lists are retained until you remove your name from the mailing list, except that copies of the mailing list may be retained for one year in backup storage. In the unlikely event that we have technical problems that cause us to revert to a backup copy of a mailing list, our systems we may restore your address to a mailing list, and you may be required to remove your address a second time.

Any information you provide us via email or feedback forms on our Web site (as well as responses, if any, to your inquiry or comment) may be retained indefinitely.

Contact information you provide when making a donation online will be retained indefinitely unless you ask us to delete it.

Security

CDT uses industry-standard security measures to protect the information we collect. A Secured Socket Layer (SSL) connection is used when you submit a donation through our Web site. This SSL connection encrypts your information as it travels across the network.

Changes to the Privacy Policy

If we make substantial changes to our Privacy Policy, we will post a large notification on our homepage and include a notice to a mailing list about our Privacy Policy. If you would like to be added to this list, click here.

What if I have concerns or want to know what information you have about me?

Feel free to contact us via our feedback page to ask us to disclose to you any information we have about you. You have the right to correct, update, or delete information that we may have about you.

If you have any concerns about this policy, please contact CDT via our feedback page or call (202) 637-9800. We can also be reached at 1634 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100, Washington DC 20006.