Privacy Policy & User Agreement

Reckoning With Torture Online Privacy Statement

Effective as of: February 7, 2012

The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (collectively, “ACLU”) and the Pen American Center (“PEN,” and together with ACLU, “we” or “us” or “our”) are organizations that care about protecting your privacy, and we are particularly committed to protecting the personal information that you provide and entrust to us when using our websites. This online privacy statement (the “Privacy Statement”) describes how we treat all user data collected by us during your visit to the Reckoning With Torture (“RWT”) Site, both technical data that is automatically collected and voluntarily submitted data.

For purposes of this Privacy Statement, the RWT Site is the website whose home page is www.reckoningwithtorture.org, which is operated by the ACLU and PEN. The ACLU and PEN each operate other websites that don’t contain this domain name. This Privacy Statement does not apply to those websites (unless those websites specifically link to this Privacy Statement), including our general websites, www.aclu.org and www.pen.org, and the terms of the privacy statements for these other websites may differ from the terms of this Privacy Statement. Additionally, this is not the privacy statement for any blogs, forums or social networking sites where ACLU or PEN has a presence, including as part of the Reckoning With Torture project, that are on websites other than the RWT Site. Further, this is not the privacy statement for any organization other than the ACLU or PEN, such as any of either organization’s coalition partners or any ACLU local affiliates. (The ACLU comprises the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation. To learn more about the differences between these two organizations, visit their respective sites at ACLU.org and PEN.org.

We occasionally may update this Privacy Statement. We will post any changes on this web page, so be sure to check back periodically. If we do make material changes, we will post a notice on the RWT home page that the Privacy Statement has been modified and provide a link to the revised Privacy Statement. Any information that you submit after a change has been posted will be subject to the new provisions.

User Data We Collect

We collect two types of user data: (1) technical data that is automatically collected from all visitors to the RWT Site (“Automatically Collected Data”); and (2) data that you voluntarily submit to us (described below under “Voluntarily Submitted Data”).

Automatically Collected Data. We automatically collect Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses and domain names of the originating visitor’s computer on our server and may know some information you have previously provided through cookies. (See the section on Cookies below for more information.) We also may track the number and frequency of hits per page by IP addresses, but we will not associate any individual IP address with any other personally identifying information except to detect security intrusions or certain unlawful activity.

In addition, if you come to the RWT Site from a website link, we may also identify the source of that link, so that we can evaluate what content is persuading web users to become involved in the ACLU’s work.

Voluntarily Submitted Data. We may collect Voluntarily Submitted Data, including personal data, that you voluntarily provide, such as your name or postal address, phone number, e-mail address, and similar information, when you submit Footage through the RWT Site, sign up to receive information about the Reckoning With Torture project or take other voluntary action through the RWT Site.

Cookies

We collect some data through the use of cookies. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that are transferred either to your computer’s hard drive (“Long-term Cookies”) or temporarily to your computer’s Random Access Memory (“Session Cookies”).

We use Long-term Cookies only when you select a “remember” option on the RWT Site, for example the “remember my login” option offered when you log on to the RWT Site, or the “remember me” option offered on a “take action” page. If you select these options, a Long-term Cookie will be stored on your computer’s hard drive solely for the purpose of automatically filling in the remembered information, for example, automatically filling in your password on a log in-protected section of the RWT Site. These “remember” options are offered only for your convenience and are completely voluntary. If you do not select a “remember” option, no Long-Term Cookie will be stored on your computer’s hard drive.

We use Session Cookies whenever you visit the RWT Site to run the Site’s interactive applications, such as YouSendIt on the “Send Your Footage” page. Session Cookies last only as long as your session on the RWT Site. They expire when the session ends and are not written onto your computer’s hard drive. We also use Session Cookies in e-mails containing the HTML-format. If you select “text-only” format preference, emails sent to you will not contain any Session Cookies.

How We Use The Data We Collect

In addition to the uses described above, we may use Automatically Collected Data to identify the source of user traffic (for example, umich.edu, or aol.com), but we will not tie this information to individual users in our database. We may use data on which sections of the RWT Site are most visited, so that we can evaluate the popularity of our different web pages and continue to improve the RWT Site. We will not link any Automatically Collected Data you provide to us except to detect security intrusions or certain unlawful activity.

We may use your Voluntarily Submitted Data for various purposes:

The RWT Site is hosted by servers in the United States. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, the Voluntarily Submitted Data you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By submitting your Voluntarily Submitted Data, you consent to its transfer and storage in the United States and its use in accordance with the purposes for which it was originally collected (see below regarding third-party sharing of Voluntarily Submitted Data from non-U.S. residents).

If you are a U.S. resident, we may also from time to time combine your Voluntarily Submitted Data with some publicly available data collected from third parties to improve our services to you and for our own internal marketing, communications, and fundraising purposes.

Third Parties

Third Party Sharing

We may disclose and use Voluntarily Submitted Data regardless of where you reside in special circumstances when it is necessary to enforce our User Agreement or this Privacy Statement, or when we, under what we hope to be extraordinary and infrequent circumstances, in good faith, truly believe that the law requires us to disclose your Voluntarily Submitted Data to third parties.

Except as described in this Privacy Statement, we will not share your Voluntarily Submitted Data with any third party unless we first notify you and offer you an appropriate choice to consent to such further use, for example, through an opt-out or opt-in request.

Third-Party Functionality

As discussed in the preceding section, to support certain functions carried out on the RWT Site, we use third-party service providers. In limited instances with respect to specific optional functions on the RWT Site, those third parties may have data collection, use or security procedures that differ from the practices outlined in this Privacy Statement and that may impact users of those optional functions. For example, a third-party service provider may support a specific web tool on the RWT Site, such as a web game that appears within the RWT Site, even though that tool is actually on the website of the third-party service provider. Any time a third-party service provider’s data collection, use or security practices differs from the data collection/use practices described in this Statement in a manner that would impact users of the RWT Site, we will either describe on the pages of the RWT Site where such optional functions appear the specific data collection, use or security practices of such third-party service provider that would apply if you elect to use those optional functions or we will provide a link to that third-party service provider’s privacy policy.

Children

We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.

Security

The Voluntarily Submitted Data we collect about you is stored on a secure, password protected server and only authorized personnel have access to your information. We use industry-standard encryption technologies with respect to the receipt and transfer of Voluntarily Submitted Data you submit to us on the RWT Site and only authorized personnel have access to your information. Nevertheless, despite our best efforts, no transmission over the Internet and no data storage method can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

Updating Your Data

To update your Voluntarily Submitted Data or to make corrections, you can do so by emailing submit@RWT.org.

Comments and Questions

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Statement or our data collection practices or to request that we delete your Voluntarily Submitted Data, you can email us directly at contact@reckoningwithtorture.org.

RWT Site User Agreement

Effective as of: February 7, 2012

Welcome to the RWT website (“RWT Site”). This Site is run by the American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (collectively, “ACLU”) and the Pen American Center (“PEN,” and together with ACLU, “we” or “us” or “our”). For purposes of this Privacy Statement, the RWT Site is the website whose home page is www.reckoningwithtorture.org, which is operated by the ACLU and PEN. The ACLU and PEN each operate other websites that don’t contain this domain name. This Privacy Statement does not apply to those websites (unless those websites specifically link to this Privacy Statement), including our general websites, www.aclu.org and www.pen.org, and the terms of the privacy statements for these other websites may differ from the terms of this Privacy Statement. Additionally, this is not the privacy statement for any blogs, forums or social networking sites where ACLU or PEN has a presence, including as part of the Reckoning With Torture project, that are on websites other than the RWT Site. Further, this is not the privacy statement for any organization other than the ACLU or PEN, such as any of either organization’s coalition partners or any ACLU local affiliates.

Please read this User Agreement carefully, including the RWT Privacy Statement. By using the RWT Site, you agree to follow the rules set forth on these web pages. From time to time we may revise this User Agreement, including the RWT Privacy Statement, so be sure to check these web pages occasionally. If we do make material changes, we will post a notice on our home page that the User Agreement has been modified and provide a link to the revised User Agreement. When you continue to use the RWT Site after we post a change, it means you agree to the new rules.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and The PEN American Center

The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation are separate organizations that are each engaged in the same mission of defending the rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, including First Amendment freedoms, equality, privacy rights and fundamental fairness. To learn more about the differences between the two organizations, click this link. The PEN American Center is engaged in the mission of defending free expression and advancing literature worldwide.

Privacy Statement & Information You Voluntarily Submit to the RWT Site

Please review the RWT Privacy Statement, which is part of this User Agreement and describes how we handle any personally identifying information about RWT Site users, including information you voluntarily submit to us through the RWT Site. By providing such information, you hereby acknowledge and agree to our treatment of such information as described in the RWT Privacy Statement.

Copyright

The ACLU or PEN owns or licenses the copyright in all the materials on the RWT Site, including text, graphics, logos, button icons, audio clips, photographs, and software, and those rights are protected by United States and international copyright laws and other intellectual property laws (“RWT Site Content”). Further, ACLU or PEN owns or licenses the copyright in any videos that are available on or submitted to us through added to the RWT site (“Videos”). To the extent your use of material on the RWT Site does not constitute “fair use” for which you do not need our permission, the following rules apply to use of the material:

Permitted Distribution. Unless the specific web page from which ACLU text materials is available indicates you may not do so, you may copy or distribute any text materials that appear on the RWT Site in print or digital format only and only for the following non-commercial purposes: research, teaching, private study, and activism within a local geographic area regarding civil liberties issues. You also may distribute RWT Site Content that is not text materials if and only to the extent that the specific launching page from which that RWT Site Content is accessible, and/or the RWT Site Content itself, explicitly indicates that the RWT Site Content may be distributed in a specified manner. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all distributed copies must display the following copyright notice:

Reprinted with permission of the
American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org) and The PEN American Center (http://www.pen.org).

Distribution Requiring Advance Written Permission. You must obtain written permission in advance if you wish to reproduce RWT Content or Videos in any manner that is not described as a permitted distribution in the section above. You can request this permission by sending us a fax at [(212) 549-2646] or an email at [webpermissions@aclu.org] that contains the information listed below:

Information You Contribute to the RWT Site

Some sections of the RWT Site that permit you to post or submit material to or through the RWT Site contain specific terms of use applicable to the posting or submission of such material (e.g., the section of the RWT Site through which you may submit Footage). In such case, by posting or submitting such material, you agree you have read, understand, agree to and accept such specific terms of use. If a section of the RWT Site that permits you to post or submit material to or through the RWT Site does not contain specific terms of use applicable to such posting or submission, the following terms apply: (i) you automatically grant to us an irrevocable, perpetual worldwide license for the to display such material on the RWT Site, and (ii) you represent, warrant and covenant to us that those materials are original to you or you have obtained permissions, releases, rights or licenses, if any are required (including where use of that material does not constitute “fair use”), that you assume full responsibility for the posting of such material vis-á-vis third parties, including but not limited to make any payments to third parties with respect to displaying such third party material.

Trademark

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, ACLU, the ACLU logos and any other ACLU trademarks on the RWT Site (collectively “ACLU Trademarks”) are trademarks of the ACLU, and THE PEN AMERICAN CENTER, PEN, the PEN logos and any other PEN trademarks on the PEN Site (collectively, “PEN Trademarks”) are trademarks of PEN, in the United States and other countries unless it is explicitly stated on the RWT Site where a trademark appears that the trademark is the trademark of a third party (“Third-Party Trademarks”). To the extent your use of ACLU or PEN Trademarks does not constitute “fair use” for which you do not need our permission, the following rules apply to use of the ACLU Trademarks and the PEN trademarks:

You may not use the ACLU Trademarks or the PEN Trademarks for any product or service that does not belong to the ACLU or PEN, as the case may be, or in any manner that is likely to cause confusion about whether ACLU or PEN is the source, affiliated with, sponsor of or endorser of any product or service. In addition, you may not use the ACLU or PEN Trademarks in any illegal manner.

Your ability to use a Third-Party Trademark that appears on the RWT Site is limited to the manner, if any, in which the RWT Site explicitly states on the page on which such Third-Party Trademark appears that such use in such manner is authorized by the third-party owner of that Third-Party Trademark (unless your use is permissible under the law (e.g., it is “fair use”) or the owner of such Third-Party Trademark has specifically granted you the right to such use in such manner).

Frames and Metatags

You may not frame the content of the RWT Site. You may not use metatags or any other “hidden text” that incorporates ACLU or PEN Trademarks without express written consent.

Links to Other Websites

The RWT Site contains links to other websites that we think may be of interest to you. We are not responsible for and have no control over these other sites or their content. Remember that when you link to another site, that other site is governed by its own user agreement and privacy statement, which you should be sure to read.

Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

ALTHOUGH WE TAKE REASONABLE STEPS TO PREVENT THE INTRODUCTION OF VIRUSES, WORMS, “TROJAN HORSES” OR OTHER DESTRUCTIVE MATERIALS TO THE RWT SITE, WE DO NOT GUARANTEE OR WARRANT THAT THE RWT SITE OR MATERIALS THAT MAY BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE RWT SITE ARE FREE FROM SUCH DESTRUCTIVE FEATURES. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR HARM ATTRIBUTABLE TO SUCH FEATURES.

WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, LOSS OR INJURY BASED ON ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS OR OTHER INACCURACIES IN THE RWT SITE, NOR FOR ANY CLAIM, LOSS OR INJURY THAT RESULTS FROM YOUR USE OF THE RWT SITE OR YOUR BREACH OF ANY PROVISION OF THIS USER AGREEMENT.

Termination

We reserve the right to terminate the RWT Site and this User Agreement at any time without notice for any reason, including, in the case of the User Agreement, for your violation of any of its provisions. The Limitation of Liability and Governing Law Sections of this User Agreement survive any such termination.

Governing Law

This User Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of New York applicable to contracts made and performed there without regard to its conflicts of law principles. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in the State and County of New York and waive any jurisdictional, venue or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.


 
 
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