Thanks for visiting the RethinkTobacco.com website and reviewing our privacy policy! Our privacy policy is plain and simple. We collect NO personal information like names or addresses when you visit our website. If you choose to provide that information to us, it is only used to fulfill your request for information.
We do collect some technical information when you visit to make your visit seamless. The section below explains how we handle and collect technical information when you visit our website.
Information Collected and Stored Automatically
When you browse, read pages, or download information on the RethinkTobacco.com website, we automatically gather and store certain technical information about your visit. This information never identifies who you are. The information we collect and store about your visit is listed below:
- The Internet domain (for example, “example.com” if you use a private Internet access account, or “yourschool.edu” if you connect from a university’s domain) and IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access our website;
- The type of browser (e.g., Chrome, Internet Explorer) and operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Unix) used to access our site;
- The date and time you access our site;
- The pages you visit;
- If you linked to the RethinkTobacco.com website from another website, the address of that website.
This information is only used to help us make the site more useful for you. With this data we learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We never track or record information about individuals and their visits.
Cookies
When you visit some websites, their webservers generate pieces of information
known as cookies. Some cookies collect personal information to recognize your
computer in the future. This is not the case at RethinkTobacco.com, where we
only use non-persistent cookies or “per-session cookies.” These cookies do not
collect personal information on users and they are erased as soon as you leave
our website.
Per-session cookies serve technical purposes like providing seamless navigation
through RethinkTobacco.com. These cookies do not permanently record data and
they are not stored on your computer’s hard drive. Department of Homeland Security
cookies are stored in memory and are only available during an active browser
session. Again, once you close your browser, the cookies disappear.
If You Send Us Personal Information
If you choose to provide us with personal information — like filling out a
Contact Us form with personal information and submitting it to us through the
website — we use that information to respond to your message and to help us
get you the information you have requested. We only share the information you
give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency,
or as otherwise required by law. We never create individual profiles or give them
to any private organizations. RethinkTobacco.com never collects information for
commercial marketing.
Site Security
- For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all
users, this government computer system employs commercial software programs
to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change
information, or otherwise cause damage.
- Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made
to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no
other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with
National Archives and Records Administration guidelines.
- Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service
are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and
Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.
RethinkTobacco.com Linking Policy
RethinkTobacco.com links to many websites created and maintained by other
public and/or private organizations. RethinkTobacco.com provides these links as
a service to our users. When users link to an outside website, they are leaving the
RethinkTobacco.com site and are subject to the privacy and security policies of
the owners/sponsors of the outside website(s).
Prohibitions
RethinkTobacco.com will not link to any website that exhibits hate, bias, or
discrimination. Furthermore, we reserve the right to deny or remove any link that
contains misleading information or unsubstantiated claims, or is determined to be
in conflict with RethinkTobacco.com’s mission or policies.
Disclaimer of Endorsement
The information posted on the RethinkTobacco.com website includes hypertext links
or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and/or private
organizations. RethinkTobacco.com provides these links and pointers solely for our
users’ information and convenience. When users select a link to an outside website,
they are leaving the RethinkTobacco.com site and are subject to the privacy and
security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website.
- RethinkTobacco.com does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance,
timeliness, or completeness of information contained on a linked website.
- RethinkTobacco.com does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked
websites and we do not endorse the views they express or the products/services
they offer.
- RethinkTobacco.com does not and cannot authorize the use of copyrighted
materials contained in linked websites. Users must request such authorization
from the sponsor of the linked website.
- RethinkTobacco.com is not responsible for transmissions users receive from
linked websites.
- RethinkTobacco.com does not guarantee that outside websites comply with the
requirements of Section 508 (Accessibility Requirements) of the Rehabilitation Act.
