CGRS Privacy Policy

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This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) discloses the privacy practices of the UC Hastings Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (“CGRS,” “we” or “us”) and the possible uses of the information that we gather from attorney users (“End Users”) and country conditions experts and other expert witnesses for asylum and other humanitarian matters (“Experts”) (collectively, “Users,” a “User” or “you”) via https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/assistance, [our mobile application(s),] and via other submissions by you to CGRS (collectively, the “Services”). By using the Services you consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, including having your personally identifiable information (“Personal Information” as defined below) used in any of the ways described in this Privacy Policy, you may not be able to use certain parts or features of our Services, and in some instances, this may necessitate the revocation of your account.

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

The Services can only be accessed and used subject to the CGRS Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy. PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY.  BY ACCESSING, DOWNLOADING, OR USING ANY OF THE SERVICES, YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE BOUND BY THE CGRS TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY.  IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL THE TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY, THEN YOU MAY NOT ACCESS AND USE THE SERVICES.

MODIFICATIONS OF PRIVACY POLICY

We may periodically modify the Privacy Policy.  If we make material changes to the Privacy Policy we will notify you via the Services (e.g., by posting a notice on our website[ or via a mobile application]) indicating that the Privacy Policy  has been changed. BY CONTINUING TO USE THE SERVICES YOU ARE CONSENTING TO THE REVISED PRIVACY POLICY.  If you do not agree with any modifications to the Privacy Policy you must cease using the Services.

INFORMATION COLLECTED

CGRS collects information on our users in various ways, including your submissions to the Services, participation in the Services, registration for the Services, and through cookie and other tracking technology. CGRS collects the following information:

PERSONAL INFORMATION

“Personal Information” refers to information that specifically identifies who you are, such as your name, phone number, email, postal address, title, institutional affiliations, CV, and links to Expert webpages. Different information may be collected from End Users and Experts.

EXPERT INFORMATION

CGRS may collect and display on the Services certain information about Experts from the Experts and from third party sources, including: topic(s) of expertise (e.g., child psychology, gender-based violence, gang violence, violence against children), countries of expertise, English capacity, other language capacity, Experts’ fee structure, whether the Expert is willing to testify in court, previous declarations by Expert, references to Expert in Immigration Judge/Board of Immigration Appeals/federal court decisions. Experts may edit the information on their own Expert profile page, including updating the Expert’s availability to take on cases, updating the Expert’s fee structure, and sharing redacted previous testimony. Experts may also request that CGRS take down their profile page on the Services.

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS, REVIEWS, RATINGS, AND COMMENTS

We collect information that you voluntarily provide as part of the Services, including messages, documents (including court documents or other documents related to cases), reviews, and ratings you submit through the Services, (“User Generated Content”). CGRS may share your User Generated Content with others such as any documents you provide related to asylum matters or court proceedings, or use the User Generated Content per the “Submitted Content” provision in the Terms of Use. You are responsible for obtaining any required client consents to share the User Generated Content under applicable law and rules of professional responsibility. If you do not want certain information shared with others, you should not submit User Generated Content, or should not submit User Generated Content that contains information or Personal Information you do not want shared in this manner. You are responsible for redacting any Personal Information of others, such as asylum applicants, in any User Generated Content you produce. Once you have submitted User Generated Content, we reserve the right to publish it in any medium to others, and it may become public.

AGGREGATE INFORMATION

We collect general, non-personal, statistical information about the use of the Services, such as how many users visit a specific page on our website, how long they stay on that page, and which hyperlinks, if any, they click on. This information represents a generic overview of our users, including their collective viewing habits, and allows us and other third parties to modify information and improve the Services based on user traffic and behavior. We collect this information through the use of technologies such as 'cookies' and web beacons, which are discussed in greater detail below. We collect this information in order to help enhance the Services to make for a better user experience.

THIRD PARTY INFORMATION

We may supplement information you provide to us with information from other sources, such as case summaries from newsletters and databases, information regarding experts from universities, attorneys with whom the experts have worked, and other sources. We use this information to help us maintain the accuracy of the information we collect and for internal business analysis or other business purposes consistent with our mission.

COOKIES

CGRS may automatically collect non-personally identifiable information and data through the use of cookies. You may set your browsers to notify you if you receive a cookie, or you may choose to block cookies with your browser. However, please be aware that some features of our Services may not function or may be slower if you refuse cookies. You may also get cookies from other third parties with links on our website as described below. We do not directly control these cookies.

We may use the services of third parties to collect and use anonymous information about your visits to and interactions with our website through the use of technologies such as cookies to personalize advertisements for goods and services.

OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

We also collect information from and about the devices you use to access the Services. This includes things like IP addresses, the type of browser and device you use, the web page you visited before coming to our sites, and identifiers associated with your devices. Your devices (depending on their settings) may also transmit location information to the Services.

We also use services hosted by third parties on the Services, such as Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”), to assist in providing the Services.  Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyze how Users use the Services. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to, and stored by, Google on their servers. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the Services, compiling reports on website activity for us and providing other services relating to website activity and Internet usage.  Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.  You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of the Services.  By using this Services, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

DO NOT TRACK

CGRS does not track Users across third party websites, and does not use or respond to “do not track” signals on your web browser.

USE OF INFORMATION

The information CGRS collects is used in of the following ways:

(a) To provide the Services;

(b) In the case of Expert information, to disclose on the Expert’s profile page on the Services;

(c) for internal review;

(d) to improve the Services;

(e) to verify the legitimacy of reviews and ratings;

(f) to notify you about updates to the Services;

(g) to get reviews and ratings;

(h) to communicate with you regarding the Services;

(i) for internal business analysis or other business purposes consistent with our mission;

(j) and to carry out other purposes that are disclosed to you and to which you consent.

DISCLOSURES AND TRANSFERS OF INFORMATION

We may disclose your information to third parties as follows:

(a) We have your permission to make the disclosure;

(b) The disclosure is of Personal Information that you have submitted for display on publicly available sections of the Services, such as profile information for your profile page;

(c) The disclosure is necessary for the purpose for which the personal information was obtained;

(d) The disclosure is of your name to Experts when you submit User Generated Content relating to those Experts;

(e) The disclosure is permitted or required by applicable law or legal process;

(f) The Personal Information to be disclosed is otherwise publicly available in accordance with the applicable law;

(g) The disclosure is reasonably related to the sale or other disposition of all or part of our business or assets;

(h) The party to whom the disclosure is made controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with CGRS;

(i) The disclosure is to a third party in connection with the sale, transfer or re-organization of some or all of CGRS or its assets, and any such acquirer or transferee will have the right to use and disclose such information subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

(j) The disclosure is in our sole discretion necessary for the establishment or maintenance of legal claims or legal compliance, to satisfy any law, regulation, subpoena or government request, or in connection with litigation;

(k) The disclosure is in our sole discretion about users who we believe are engaged in illegal activities or are in violation of our Terms of Use, even without a subpoena, warrant or court order; or

(l) The disclosure is to outside businesses to perform certain services for us, such as maintaining our Services, mailing lists, and data analysis (“Administrative Service Providers”), including Administrative Service Providers outside the country or jurisdiction in which you reside.

(m) The disclosure is part of a disclosure of aggregate user data that does not disclose your Personal Information or otherwise identify you.

DATA SECURITY, INTEGRITY, AND ACCESS

The Personal Information you provide and we collect is stored within databases that we control directly or through our Administrative Service Providers. As we deem appropriate and as required by the applicable law, we use security measures appropriate for the sensitivity of the Personal Information and consistent with industry standards, including physical, organizational and technological protections, such as firewalls, to protect your Personal Information. However, since no security system is impenetrable, we cannot guarantee the security of our databases, nor can we guarantee that information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.

Personal Information may only be accessed by persons within our organization, our third party service providers who require such access to provide you with the services indicated above, or any other party that you have provided us with authorization to share such information with.

Your information may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside of your state, province/territory, or country where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those where you live.

CGRS may assign you or you may select a user ID and a password when you as part of your participation and access to the Services. Your user ID and password may only be used by you. You may not share your user ID and password with anyone else, and you are solely responsible for maintaining and protecting the confidentiality of your user ID and password. You are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your user ID and password. You can access and update your login information on the Services.

THIRD PARTY WEBSITES AND LINKS

Our Services may contain links to other sites operated by third parties. CGRS does not control such other sites and is not responsible for their content, their privacy policies, or their use of Personal Information. CGRS's inclusion of such links does not, by itself, imply any endorsement of the content on such sites or of their owners or operators except as disclosed on the Services. Any information submitted by you directly to these third parties is subject to that third party’s privacy policy. CGRS expressly disclaims any and all liability for the actions of third parties, including but without limitation to actions relating to the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information by third parties.

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

We do not seek or knowingly collect any Personal Information about children under 13 years of age. If we become aware that we have unknowingly collected Personal Information from a child under the age of 13, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to delete such information from our database.

If you are the parent or guardian of a minor child who has provided us with Personal Information, you may contact us using the information below to request it be deleted.

GOVERNING LAW

This Privacy Policy shall be subject to the “Governing Law and Arbitration; No Class Actions” provision in the Terms of Use.

HOW TO CONTACT US

All requests, questions, concerns, or complaints about your Personal Information or this Privacy Policy, please contact us by mail or email at the following:

Attn: Deputy Director
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
200 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
E-mail: cgrs@uchastings.edu

We welcome your questions and comments.

This Privacy Policy was last modified on September 17, 2018.