IPRI Privacy Policy

Overview

IPRI spends a lot of time researching various aspects of privacy, so our aim is to respect yours in practice.

This privacy statement applies to the main IPRI website, which includes the IPRI homepage at https://internetpolicy.mit.edu/, as well as all subpages hosted on the site. This Privacy Statement explains how we handle and use the personal information we collect about our members and site visitors.

Your Personal Information

You can visit the IPRI website without telling us who you are and without revealing any personal information about yourself.

When you interact with any IPRI group, page or account on a social media platform, such as Facebook and Twitter, we may also collect the personal information that you make available to us on that page or through that account, including your account ID or “handle” and your email address.

Voluntarily Provided Information

In using specific features, such as web forms, on the IPRI website, you may be asked to provide additional information, such as your name or email address, that may be needed to contact you or to subscribe you to updates. In such cases, it is our intent that your provided information will be used only to fulfill the request(s) you make of us, and to allow us to contact you if there are any problems with your request. We will not share, exchange, or sell your email address and other provided personal information to third parties.

Automatically Collected Information for Visitor and Traffic Analytics

For all visitors to our website (whether or not they are members), we collect and process non-personal analytical information – aggregated information related to email marketing actions and web visitor activity. Such aggregated visitor activity recorded includes: pageview counts, session counts, average session durations, average bounce rates, users per time of day, and traffic channel/source (e.g., direct, organic search, referral, social).

Google Analytics

The IPRI website uses Google Analytics to gather de-identified usage statistics. The information gathered is used to improve web services for visitors. Google Analytics uses a browser cookie for statistical analysis related to your browsing behavior on these websites. If you choose, you can opt out by turning off cookies in the preferences settings in your browser, or download and install Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. For more information, visit Google Analytics Solutions.

Basis for Processing

We process your personal information collected on the IPRI website to facilitate our online interactions with you. We only collect and process your personal information in furtherance of IPRI’s legitimate interests and/or to fulfill any obligations to you.

If you have concerns about this privacy statement, any of these purposes, or how we communicate with you, please contact us at ipri-contact@mit.edu. We will always respect a request by you to stop processing your personal information (subject to our legal obligations).

How Your Information Is Stored and Secured

IPRI uses administrative, technical, and physical security measures to protect your personal information. There are reasonable security measures in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure.

How Long We Keep Your Personal Information

We will maintain a record for you until such time as you tell us that you no longer wish us to keep in touch. After such time, we will retain a core set of information for IPRI’s legitimate purposes, such as archival, scientific, and historical research and for the defense of potential legal claims.

Rights for All Individuals: Required for Individuals in the European Economic Area but Extended to All of Our Users

You have the right in certain circumstances to (1) access your personal information; (2) correct or erase information; (3) restrict processing; and (4) object to communications, direct marketing, or profiling. While these rights are only legally required for individuals in the European Economic Area, we extend them to all of our users around the world. To the extent applicable, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation provides further information about your rights. As an individual in the European Economic Area you also have the right to lodge complaints with your national or regional data protection authority.

If you are inclined to exercise these rights, we request an opportunity to discuss with you any concerns you may have. To protect the personal information we hold, we may also request further information to verify your identity when exercising these rights. Upon a request to erase information, we will maintain a core set of personal data to ensure we do not contact you inadvertently in the future, as well as any information necessary for MIT archival purposes. We may also need to retain some financial information for legal purposes, including US IRS compliance. In the event of an actual or threatened legal claim, we may retain your information for purposes of establishing, defending against, or exercising our rights with respect to such claim.

By providing information directly to IPRI, you consent to the transfer of your personal information outside of the European Economic Area to the United States. You understand that the current laws and regulations of the United States may not provide the same level of protection as the data and privacy laws and regulations of the EEA, but IPRI will extend all of these rights to all of our users to the extent permissible under United States law.

Additional Information

The IPRI website may contain links to third-party sites located outside of IPRI. IPRI is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these websites. We encourage you to review privacy statements and policies published by these third-party sites.

We may change this Privacy Statement from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, we will make this clear on our website or by contacting you directly.

The controller for your personal information is IPRI. We can be contacted at ipri-contact@mit.edu.