This site is owned and operated by the Greater Detroit Agency for the Blind and Visually Impaired (GDABVI). Your privacy, when visiting our web site, is of the utmost importance to us and we want to make your experience on our site both satisfying and safe.
Because we collect certain types of information about our users, we feel you should fully understand our policy and the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses what information we collect, how we collect it, and how we use it.
Our privacy policy only applies to information collected by GDABVI. If you link to another web site from our web site, you should read the privacy policy of the new site.
What Information GDABVI Collects and Tracks
GDABVI may gather two types of information about users:
- Personal information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions when contacting GDABVI
- Tracking information derived mainly by counting page visits throughout our web site
How the Information is Collected
Personal Information Voluntarily Submitted
Web site users may submit certain personal information to GDABVI whenever they:
- add themselves to our electronic newsletter mailing list. Users may remove themselves from this mailing list by following the link, provided in every newsletter, that directs users to the subscription management page.
- make an entry into the GDABVI Guest Book
- make a donation to GDABVI through this Web site
- send an email to GDABVI personnel
Web Site User Tracking
GDABVI tracks user traffic patterns throughout all pages of our site. However, we do not correlate this information with data about individual users. GDABVI does break down overall usage statistics according to a user’s domain name, browser type, and MIME type by reading this information from the browser string (information contained in every user’s browser).
Our Internet service provider collects information about the date and time when our web site was accessed and if the user linked to our Web site from another Web site. It records the Internet address of that linking Web site. This information is collected to measure the number of visitors to our site and the pages they visited. Our Internet service provider does not record email addresses and other personally identifiable information of persons who view our Web site.
GDABVI may track and catalog the search terms that users enter in our Search function, but this tracking is never associated with individual users. We use tracking information to determine which areas of our site users like and don’t like based on traffic to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This information helps us continue to build a better site.
Use of Collected Information
GDABVI may use the above-described collected information to enhance the web site content to better suit the user’s needs. GDABVI will not share any information about individual users with any third party, except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public.
As stated above, we use information that users voluntarily provide in order to send out electronic newsletters and to enable users to participate in polls, surveys, message boards, and forums. We send out newsletters to subscribers on a regular schedule (depending on the newsletter), and occasionally send out special editions when we think subscribers might be particularly interested in something we are doing. GDABVI never shares newsletter mailing lists or other email lists with any third parties.
When we use tracking information to determine which areas of our site users like and don’t like based on traffic to those areas, we do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for you. We may track search terms entered in Search function as one of many measures of what interests our users. But we don’t track which terms a particular user enters.
GDABVI creates aggregate reports on user demographics and traffic patterns for internal use.
Cookies
Like other web sites, GDABVI may place a small text file called a “cookie” in your computer browser files. The cookie itself does not contain personal Information although it will enable us to relate your use of this site to information that you have specifically and knowingly provided. The only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie can’t read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. GDABVI may uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above).
You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. If you’ve set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use this site.
Use of Our Site by Children
Consistent with the Federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), GDABVI will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent.
Security of Collected Information
GDABVI operates a data network protected by an industry standard firewall and password protection system. Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary. Only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by our web site users.
Opt-Out Policy
GDABVI provides an option for users to opt-out of receiving our electronic newsletters or participating in certain interactive areas. This completely alleviates the need to gather any personally identifiable information from our users.
User Consent
By using this site, users consent to the collection and use of this information by GDABVI. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.
Please contact GDABVI if you have any questions or comments about our Web Site Privacy Policy.
