General
The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Inc. (“MLRI,” “we” or “us”) is committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to its website, www.masslegalservices.org (the “Site”). The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you of what kinds of information we may gather about you when you visit the Site, how we may use that information and how we may disclose that information. By visiting the Site, you accept the practices described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected through this Site and not to information collected offline or to other websites to which we may link.
Modifications to this Policy
We reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy at any time and without notice. Please check the Site periodically to keep informed of any changes. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of those changes.
Terms of Use
Please also visit our Terms of Use, which governs the use of this Site. By using this Site, you signify your agreement to all such Terms of Use.
What Information Do We Collect?
- Non-personally identifiable information
You may use some of the functionality of the Site without registration. If you use the Site without registering, the only information we collect will be information we automatically gather about the use of the Site. As you browse the Site, we and our web hosting service may collect hit data or other web statistics through the use of “cookies,” web beacons and other technologies.
Together with our Site designer, programmer and host, we use such data to maintain and improve the Site, by, for example, evaluating what portions of the Site are more popular than others, determining from where visitors came to the Site, and determining how many times particular pages of the Site were accessed in aggregate. We do not use such data to retrieve information that is unrelated to your visit to or your interaction with the Site.
- Personally identifiable information
Many of the specific tools and services available on our Site are only available through the private portion of the Site. To access the private portion of our Site, you must be a staff member at certain specified legal services programs within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or an "invited guest,” and you must register with the Site.
When you register, you will be asked to provide basic information about yourself, including your name and e-mail address, and certain users, including legal staff members at certain specified legal services programs within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, will also be required to provide information related to their employment. All such registration information is accessible to other registrants of the Site, to members of certain groups affiliated with us, including, without limitation, masslegalservices.org and the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, and to the personnel of third-party service providers who help administer, assist, program and design this Site and websites of those groups affiliated with us.
We do not presently collect personally identifiable information via the public area of the Site, except to the extent that users provide such information in unsolicited e-mails or feedback forms. WE DO NOT PROVIDE LEGAL ADVICE VIA E-MAIL AND WE DO NOT ENCOURAGE YOU TO PROVIDE PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF OR YOUR LEGAL SITUATION VIA E-MAIL OR FEEDBACK FORMS. If you do send us an e-mail or feedback form requesting legal assistance, representation or advice, we may forward such e-mail or feedback form to other entities, including, but not limited to, other legal services organizations that might be in a position to assist you. In addition, if you send us an e-mail or feedback form which mentions or involves a legal service organization, including an e-mail with concerns or complaints about that program, we may forward your e-mail or feedback form directly to that program. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THE PRIVACY OF ANY INFORMATION THAT YOU SEND US VIA AN UNSOLICITED E-MAIL OR FEEDBACK FORM.
Disclosure
Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, trade or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information unless we provide you with advance notice. In addition to the disclosure practices set forth herein, we may also release any information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use, or to protect our or others’ rights, property or safety.
What Steps Do We Take To Protect Your Privacy?
When you submit personal information, we take steps to ensure that your information is treated securely. We use industry-standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving sensitive visitor data via the Site. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. It is possible that our Internet Service Provider (“ISP”), as well as your own ISP, may access the information you submit over the Internet to us, although it is generally not the practice of ISPs to do so. In addition, although highly unlikely, computer hackers may be able to gain access to information you submit when it is transmitted through the Internet or sitting on your server or our server. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.
Message Board, Blogs, Other Public Forums
From time to time, the Site may feature message boards, blogs and other forums viewable by the public. Any information that you reveal in such a public forum, including any personally identifiable information, is by design open to the public and is not subject to this Privacy Policy. You should think carefully before disclosing any personally identifiable information in any public forum. What you write may be seen, disclosed or collected by third parties and may be used by others in ways we are unable to control or predict, including to contact you for unauthorized purposes. As with any public forum on any website, this information may also appear in third-party search engines.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on a visitor's computer hard drive that, among other things, allow an organization and/or the host of the organization's website to record how many times a user or a computer within a user's network of computers has visited the website, the number of times various pages of the website have been accessed and other such information. You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent or you can choose to turn off all cookies through your browser settings. If you turn cookies off, you may not have access to many features that make your Site experience more efficient and some of our services may not function properly. For more information about cookies, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org/.
What About Children's Privacy?
We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from any children under the age of 13. We encourage families to obtain additional information about safe use of the Internet at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0031-protecting-your-childs-privacy-online.
Choice/Opt-Out
If you no longer wish to receive communications from us, or if you wish to cancel your registration with us, you may do so by emailing us at info@masslegalservices.org. Contact us If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@masslegalservices.org, or by mail at MassLegalServices.org, c/o Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Inc., 40 Court St., Suite 800, Boston, MA 02108.