1. Introduction
1.1 OpenITI (or “we” or “us”) respect(s) your privacy and are committed to protecting it through compliance with this Privacy Policy (or “Policy”).
1.2 This Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website https://openiti.org/, and any other website domain affiliated with OpenITI (our “Platform”), as well as our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.
2. This Policy applies to the information that we collect:
2.1 on this Platform;
2.2 in email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Platform or its staff and affiliates; or
2.3 via mail.
3. This Policy does not apply to information collected by:
3.1 OpenITI offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by OpenITI or any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries); or
3.2 any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries), including through any application or content that may link to or be accessible from or on the Platform.
3.3 By accessing or using this Platform, you agree to this Privacy Policy. Please read this Policy carefully to understand our practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Platform. This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of this Platform after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check this Policy periodically for updates.
4. Children Under the Age of 13
4.1 Our Platform is not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any information to or on the Platform. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use or provide any information on this Platform or any of its features, register for the Platform, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Platform, or provide any information about yourself to us--including your email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn that we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at openiti\@umd.edu.
5. Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
5.1 We collect several types of information from and about users of our Platform, including information:
5.1.1 by which you may be personally identified, such as name, e-mail address, or any other information the website collects that is defined as personal or personally identifiable information under an applicable law (“personal information”);
5.1.2 that is about you but individually does not identify you, such as IP addresses and website navigation information; and/or
5.1.3 about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Platform and usage details.
5.2 We collect this information:
5.2.1 directly from you when you provide it to us;
5.2.2 automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies; and
5.2.3 from third parties, for example, our affiliated platforms.
6. Information You Provide to Us
6.1 The information we collect on or through our Platform may include:
6.1.1 information that you provide by filling in forms on our Platform (including information provided at the time of registering to use our Platform, subscribing to our service, posting material, or requesting further services, and/or information provided when you report a problem with our Platform);
6.1.2 your name, e-mail address, mailing address, telephone number, social media profile, photographs, and biography;
6.1.3 records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us;
6.1.4 your search queries on the Platform;
6.1.5 and records of corrections, additions, and annotations that you make to texts uploaded to the Platform.
6.2 You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, “posted”) on public areas of the Platform, or transmitted to other users of the Platform or to third parties (collectively, “User Contributions”). Your User Contributions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk. Although we limit access to certain pages, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Platform with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.
7. Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies
7.1 As you navigate through and interact with our Platform, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:
7.1.1 details of your visits to our Platform, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data, as well as the resources that you access and use on the Platform; and
7.1.2 information about your computer and Internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
7.1.3 We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities.
7.2 The information that we collect automatically is statistical data and does not include personal information, or we may maintain it or associate it with personal information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Platform and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
7.2.1 estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
7.2.2 speed up your searches;
7.2.3 improve OCR accuracy; and
7.2.4 recognize you when you return to our Platform.
8. The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:
8.1 Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Platform. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Platform.
8.2 Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Platform may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Platform. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
8.3 Web Beacons. Pages of the Platform and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit OpenITI, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
8.4 Third-Party Use of Cookies [and Other Tracking Technologies]:
8.4.1 Some content or applications on the Platform are served by third-parties, including content providers and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our Platform. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.
8.4.2 We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about any targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.
9. How We Use Your Information:
9.1 We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
9.1.1 to present our Platform and its contents to you;
9.1.2 to provide you with information, or services that you request from us;
9.1.3 to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it;
9.1.4 to provide you with notices about your account/subscription;
9.1.5 to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
9.1.6 to notify you about changes to our Platform or any products or services we offer or provide though it;
9.1.7 to allow you to participate in interactive features on our Platform;
9.1.8 to improve Platform services (for example, improving accuracy of OCR)
9.1.9 in any other way we may describe when you provide the information; and
9.1.10 for any other purpose with your consent.
10. Users Located in the European Economic Area
10.1 If you are located in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway (the “European Economic Area”), please see Additional EEA Privacy Disclosures for information about ways that certain University of Maryland Schools, Centers, units and controlled entities, including this one, may collect, use, and share information about you.
11. Disclosure of Your Information
11.1 We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction. We may disclose personal information that we collect or that you provide as described in this Privacy Policy:
11.1.1 to our subsidiaries and affiliates;
11.1.2 to contractors, service providers, and other third parties that we use to support our operations;
11.1.3 to fulfill the purpose for which you provide it;
11.1.4 for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information; or
11.1.5 for other purposes with your consent.
11.2 We may also disclose your personal information:
11.2.1 to comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
11.2.2 To enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements; and
11.2.3 if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of OpenITI, our users, or others.
12. Accessing and Correcting Your Information
12.1 You can review and change your personal information by logging into the Portal and visiting your account profile page. You may also send us an email at openiti\@umd.edu to request access to, correct or delete any personal information that you have provided to us. We cannot delete your personal information except by also deleting your user account. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe that the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.
12.2 If you delete your Material and/or User Contributions from the Portal, copies of your Material and/or User Contributions may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or may have been copied or stored by other Portal users. Proper access and use of information provided on the Portal, including Material and/or User Contributions, is governed by our Terms of Use.
13. Your California Privacy Rights
13.1 California Civil Code Section § 1798.83 permits users of our Portal that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to openiti\@umd.edu
14. Data Security
14.1 Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Platform. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Platform.
14.2 The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Platform, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Platform like message boards. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the Platform.
15. Changes to Our Privacy Policy
15.1 It is our policy to post any changes we make to this Privacy Policy on this page. The date that the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page.
16. Contact Information
16.1 To ask questions about or to comment on this Privacy Policy and our privacy practices, please contact us at: openiti\@umd.edu