Last revised: August 20, 2008

Insideschools.org is a program of Advocates for Children of New York, Inc., a New York not-for-profit corporation ("AFC," "we," "us") that provides a variety of online services, making it easier for parents, guardians and other interested individuals and organizations to find out about New York City's public schools and school system, to find general information on their legal rights in the New York City public school system, and to voice their opinions. We share your concerns about the protection of your Personally Identifiable Information (as defined below) online. This Privacy Policy (this "Policy") describes our use and disclosure practices regarding any Personally Identifiable Information that we collect through our Internet website located at www.insideschools.org (the "Site"). By visiting or using the Site, you signify that you agree to the terms and conditions of this Policy. If you do not agree to this Policy, please do not use the Site.

This Policy is the sole authorized statement of AFC's practices with respect to the online collection of Personally Identifiable Information and usage of such information through the Site. Any summaries of this Policy generated by third party software or otherwise (for example, in connection with the "Platform for Privacy Preferences" or "P3P") shall have no legal effect, are in no way binding upon AFC, shall not be relied upon as a substitute for this Policy, and neither supersede nor modify this Policy.

Please note that in order to protect the privacy of our users under thirteen (13) years of age, we may require such users to obtain permission from their parents and/or guardians during the registration process, prior to being registered on the Site. Not all functionality on the Site may be available to such users under thirteen (13) years of age.

I. What Information Does AFC Collect?

AFC collects two types of information about users of the Site: (a) "Personally Identifiable Information" or "PII," which is, information from which an individual can be identified, i.e., an individual's full name, email address, address and credit card number or other payment account number; and (b) "Non-Personally Identifiable Information," or "Non-PII," which is aggregated information, demographic information, IP addresses, and any other information that does not reveal a user's specific identity. Our collection of Personally Identifiable Information and Non-Personally Identifiable Information is described in more detail below.

(a) Personally Identifiable Information. You do not have to provide Personally Identifiable Information to visit or use the Site in general. For example, you can search for and research particular New York City public schools without providing any Personally Identifiable Information to AFC. However, particular services available through the Site may require you to submit Personally Identifiable Information-for example, signing up for email updates or making a purchase through the Site. We collect such Personally Identifiable Information only when you affirmatively provide it to us through the Site, including when you sign up for email updates or make a purchase through the Site. Remember that no Personally Identifiable Information is actually submitted to us through the Site until you click the "SUBMIT" or a similar button on the form into which you have entered such information. If you contact us by email through the Site, or send correspondence through the Site to school and/or city officials, we may keep a record of your contact information and correspondence.

In some instances we may use third-party payment services (each, a "Payment Service") to collect payments and/or donations made through the Site. If you wish to make a payment and/or a donation through the Site, you will be directed to a webpage that is hosted by the Payment Service (or the Payment Service's service providers) and not by AFC (such page, the "Payment Service Page"). Any PII that you provide through the Payment Service Page will be collected by Payment Service and not by AFC, and will be subject to Payment Service's privacy policy, rather than this Policy. AFC has no control over, and shall not be responsible for, Payment Service's use of information collected through the Payment Service Page. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POLICY DOES NOT ADDRESS THE COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION THROUGH THE PAYMENT SERVICE PAGE OR THE PRIVACY OR INFORMATION PRACTICES OF PAYMENT SERVICE. Please note that we may obtain some of your PII from the Payment Service for our records, and that we may use such PII as set forth in this Policy.

(b) Non-Personally Identifiable Information. When you visit and interact with the Site, AFC and its third party service providers and business partners may collect Non-PII (e.g., browser type, operating system, Internet service provider, IP address, referring page or site, total number of your Site or page visits and the average time you spend on a page or area of the Site). Non-PII is generally collected through the Site from five different sources: (i) server log files, (ii) environmental variables, (iii) cookies, (iv) pixel tags and other similar technologies, and (v) information that you voluntarily provide to us. Collecting Non-PII is a standard practice on the Internet and is done automatically by most websites.

i. Server Log Files. Your Internet Protocol (IP) address is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This number is identified and logged automatically in our and our third party service providers' server log files whenever you visit the Site, along with the time(s) of your visit(s) and the page(s) that you visited. We and our service providers use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating Site usage levels, helping diagnose problems with the Site's servers, and administering the Site. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice on the Internet and is done automatically by many websites.

ii. Environmental Variables. We and our service providers may also collect certain environmental variables, such as your computer's "MAC address," computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system version, Internet browser, and Internet browser version. These environmental variables are collected by most browsers, and can be used to optimize your experience on the Site.

iii. Cookies. We and our service providers may use "cookies" in connection with the Site. Cookies are small data files containing information that is written to a website visitor's hard drive by a web server. Cookies, are standard technology used by most websites and are not designed to cause damage to your computer systems or files. If you do not want information to be collected about you through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure built into most web browsers that allows you to automatically decline cookies or to be given the choice of declining or accepting the transfer of cookies to your computer. Note, however, that declining cookies may prevent a Site user from using certain of the Site's services.

iv. Pixel Tags. We and our service providers may also use so-called "pixel tags," "web beacons," "clear GIFs," or similar means in connection with Site pages and HTML-formatted email messages to, among other things, track the actions of Site users and email recipients, determine the success of marketing campaigns and compile aggregate statistics about Site usage and response rates.

v. Information That You Voluntarily Provide. AFC also collects Non-PII (for example, your geographic location) when you voluntarily provide such information to us. Such information constitutes Non-PII because, unless combined with PII, it does not personally identify you or any other user. Additionally, we may aggregate PII in a manner such that the end-product does not personally identify you or any other user of the Site, for example, by using PII to calculate the percentage of our users who have a particular zip code. Such aggregate information is considered Non-PII for purposes of this Policy.

II. How Does AFC Use the Information It Collects?

(a) Personally Identifiable Information.

i. Fulfillment of Requests. We use your PII fulfill the purpose for which such PII was provided (for example, to send email updates to you if you sign up for such updates).

ii. Records. AFC keeps records of the information (including, without limitation, PII) that you submit when composing letters and providing feedback through the Site, in order to track the general types of problems that parents confront in schools, the success of individual parents in resolving specific problems described in such letters and feedback and related matters. Upon your request, we will make reasonable efforts to remove your PII from our active databases (see Section IV(b) below).

iii. Purchases and Donations. When you make a purchase or a donation through the Site (other than through a Payment Service, as described in Section I(a) above), we may use your PII in order to fulfill your purchase or donation.

iv. Promotions. We may operate sweepstakes, contests, raffles, surveys and similar promotions (collectively, "Promotions") through the Site. We typically ask you for certain PII when you enter and, if applicable, win a Promotion. You should carefully review the rules, if any, of each Promotion in which you participate through the Site, as they may contain additional important information about AFC's use of PII about you. To the extent that the terms and conditions of such rules concerning the treatment of PII about you conflict with this Policy, the terms and conditions of such rules shall control.

v. Email Updates. We may, from time to time, send to you, at the email address you provide, email updates, appeals for donations and/or, if you opt-in, marketing emails on behalf of our third party marketing partners. If you wish to opt-out of receiving such email updates, appeals and/or marketing emails on a going-forward basis, you may do so by following the instructions set forth in Section IV(c) below.

vi. Use of Email Addresses in Sending Notices Regarding the Site and Our Policies. From time to time, in our sole discretion, we may email information to Site users regarding the use of the Site or its services, changes to our Terms of Use or this Policy or other administrative information. Because this information may be important to your use of the Site, you may not opt-out of receiving such communications.

vii. Internal Business Purposes. We may also use PII about you for our internal business purposes, such as data analysis, audits and so forth.

(b) Non-Personally Identifiable Information. Because Non-PII does not personally identify you, we may use such information for any purpose. In addition, we reserve the right to share such Non-PII, which does not personally identify you, with third parties for any purpose. For purposes of example only, with respect to any Non-PII that you make available through the Site (including, without limitation, as part of feedback or letters that you prepare and forward using the Site, for example, to school officials), we may make such Non-PII available, in whole or in part, through the Site (subject to the other terms and conditions of this Policy).

In some instances, we may combine Non-PII with PII (such as combining your name with your geographic location). If we do combine any Non-PII with PII, the combined information will be treated by us as PII hereunder as long as it is so combined.

III. How Is PII Collected Through the Site Disclosed?

(a) Disclosure to Service Providers. AFC works with third parties who provide services that may include, but are not necessarily limited to, website hosting, internet services, data analysis, and other services of an administrative or technical nature. AFC reserves the right to share Personally Identifiable Information with such third parties for the purpose of providing such services (for example, if you choose to make a purchase through the Site, we may share your PII with our third party service providers to fulfill your purchase, including, without limitation, to process your credit card or payment account number).

(b) Disclosures to Partners. If you opt-in, we may share PII about you with third parties to allow them to contact you regarding products, programs, services and promotions that they believe may be of interest to you. If you would prefer that we do not share your information with such third parties for such third parties' marketing purposes, please see the "Opt-Out" section below.

(c) Letters to Officials. The Site may provide certain features that enable you to compose letters or other communications through the Site to be forwarded to public or school officials (for example, "Write to the Chancellor" functionality that may be available through the Site) (each, a "Letter"). The Site may also enable you to request that we forward your Letter to parent organizing groups.

AFC reserves the right (but has no obligation) to review Letters and to refuse to forward any Letter to such officials and/or organizations where AFC, in its discretion, believes the letter violates our Terms of Use or is otherwise inappropriate.

Before using such functionality, please be aware that Letters may contain your PII, whether in the body of the Letter (for example, if you voluntarily include your PII in the text of your Letter), or in any form that you complete as part of composing or forwarding the Letter (for example, your name and other contact information that indicates the author of the Letter). AFC does not "redact" or remove (and is not responsible for redacting or removing) PII from Letters, therefore, anyone who receives a Letter will have access to such PII. Further, AFC does not restrict or condition (and is not responsible for restricting or conditioning) any recipient's use of such PII, therefore, anyone who receives a Letter will be able to disclose or use such PII for any purpose. Therefore, if there is any information that you do not wish to be shared with Letter recipients or do not wish such recipients to use or disclose, please do not use this feature of the Site. Further, AFC does not withdraw (and is not responsible for withdrawing) PII from Letter recipients once Letters have been provided to such recipients. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR THE ACTS OR OMISSIONS OF THE RECIPIENTS OF ANY LETTER (AS DEFINED IN THIS POLICY), INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, SUCH RECIPIENTS' USE AND/OR DISCLOSURE OF PII CONTAINED IN OR DISCLOSED IN CONNECTION WITH LETTERS.

(d) Forums. AFC may make services available through the Site (for example, message boards, blogs, forums, comment functionality and private messaging functionality, among other services) to which you are able to post or otherwise make available information and materials. Please note that any information you disclose through such services becomes public information, and may be available to other users to the Site and to the general public. In addition, when you choose to make a posting on such services, certain PII may be available for other users to view. We urge you to exercise discretion and caution when deciding to disclose PII, or any other information, on the Site. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE OR DISCLOSURE OF ANY PII THAT YOU VOLUNTARILY DISCLOSE THROUGH THE SITE.

(e) Profiles. We may provide functionality on the Site that allows you to create a "profile page" (your "Profile") and to post certain information and materials on your Profile. Please note that your Profile, including all PII available in your Profile, may be accessible to other users. We urge you to exercise discretion and caution when deciding to disclose PII, or any other information, in your Profile. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE USE BY OTHERS OF ANY PII THAT YOU DISCLOSE IN YOUR PROFILE.

(f) Classifieds. Any information you provide in response to classified advertisements available on the Site is provided to the third party who placed such advertisement, and not to us. We are not responsible for such third party's use and/or disclosure of your PII. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POLICY DOES NOT ADDRESS THE PRIVACY OR INFORMATION PRACTICES OF ANY THIRD PARTIES.

(g) Emails to Friends. We may provide functionality that enables you to send content from the Site to a friend through the Site. Please note that any PII that you provide in connection with sending messages to a friend through the Site, such as your name and your email address, will, of course, be disclosed to your friend.

(h) Promotions. We reserve the right to share the PII you provide in connection with Promotions with third party sponsors of such Promotions (irrespective of whether such Promotions are hosted by us), or otherwise in accordance with the rules applicable to such Promotion. You should carefully review the rules, if any, of each Promotion in which you participate through the Site, as they may contain additional important information about a sponsor's or other third parties' use of PII about you. To the extent that the terms and conditions of such rules concerning the treatment of PII about you conflict with this Policy, the terms and conditions of such rules shall control.

(i) Assignment. We reserve the right to transfer any and all information that we collect from Site users to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of AFC's business (including, without limitation, in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

(j) Other Disclosures. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Privacy Policy, AFC reserves the right to disclose Personally Identifiable Information about or provided by Site users (including information provided, or to which AFC has access, in connection with Letters composed and/or forwarded to officials and/or other organizations through the Site) to third parties under any of the following circumstances: when we believe in good faith that the law permits or requires it (for example, in response to legal process and/or governmental requests, such as a court order or a subpoena); to our advisors and agents; to enforce our Terms of Use; to protect our operations; to protect the rights, property, safety or security of AFC, our users, or the public; to respond to an emergency; or to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain. We also reserve the right (but have no obligation) to report any suspected illegal activity to law enforcement individuals or entities for investigation or prosecution.

IV. Other Important Notes Regarding Privacy

(a) Security. AFC seeks to have security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the PII which is under our control. Unfortunately, no storage system or system of transmitting data over the Internet or other networks can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your Personally Identifiable Information, we cannot guarantee the security of our servers, the means by which information is transmitted between AFC's servers and your or any third parties' computer(s), or any information provided to, through or in connection with the Site, and you provide all such information at your own risk.

(b) Removing or Changing Your Information. Upon your request, we will make reasonable efforts to remove your Personally Identifiable Information from our active databases. To make this request, please contact us, provide the email address you have previous provided to us and ask us to remove your Personally Identifiable Information from our active databases. Please note that, for your protection, we may need to verify your identity before removing your PII. We would then seek to deactivate such PII as soon as reasonably possible.

You may also make changes to your PII, or remove PII (other than your email address), by logging into your account and making changes to your profile. We seek to implement these changes as soon as reasonably possible. If you wish to remove your email address, please contact us as stated above.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for record-keeping purposes, and there may also be residual information that will remain within our databases and other records. We reserve the right, from time to time, to re-contact former users of the Site.

(c) Opt-Out. If you do not wish to receive marketing-related emails from us, or if you would prefer that we do not share PII about you with third parties for such third parties' marketing purposes on a going-forward basis, you may opt-out of receiving such marketing-related emails or from such sharing by contacting us through our Contact Us page or, if we permit opt-outs through your Profile, by making changes in your Profile. Please specify clearly which of the following choices you are opting out of:

i. Receiving AFC email updates from AFC;

ii. Receiving appeals for donations from AFC;

iii. Receiving marketing emails that AFC sends on behalf of third parties; or

iv. Allowing AFC to share PII about you (please make clear whether this information was collected online or offline) with third parties for their marketing purposes.

We will endeavor to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable. Please note that if you opt-out as described above, we will not be able to remove PII about you from the databases of third parties with which we have already shared PII about you (i.e., to which we have already provided PII about you as of the date that we implement your opt-out request). If you wish to cease receiving marketing-related emails from such third parties, please contact such third parties directly or utilize any opt-out mechanisms set forth in their respective privacy policies or marketing-related emails.

(d) Third Party Sites and Services. The Site may contain links to third party websites. These linked sites are not under AFC's control and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the contents of any such linked site, or any link contained in any linked site. Third parties may collect information about you, through cookies or other technologies, when you link to their websites from the Site or when you contact them through email links on the Site. Your Internet or other service provider(s) may also collect information about or submitted by you while you use the Site or other websites on the Internet. You acknowledge that we do not monitor or control the websites or information collection or privacy practices of these or any other third parties, and are not responsible for their practices or the content of their websites or services or any other conduct in which they engage. We provide links on the Site to third party sites and email addresses only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link on our Site does not imply our endorsement of the linked site. If you provide any PII through any third party website, your transaction will occur on such third party's website (not the Site) and the PII you provide will be collected by, and controlled by the privacy policy of, that third party. You should review the privacy policies of such third parties to understand how they collect, use and disclose information. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POLICY DOES NOT ADDRESS THE PRIVACY OR INFORMATION PRACTICES OF ANY THIRD PARTIES.

(e) Third Party Advertisers. We may use third party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Site. Please note that these companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visit to this Site in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. In the course of serving advertisements to this Site, these companies may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. If you would like more information about this practice, and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, please visit http://www.doubleclick.net/us/corporate/privacy or http://networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp.

(f) Specific Exclusions. This Policy does not restrict or prohibit AFC's use or disclosure of public information, or of information that was not provided by Site users themselves to AFC.

(g) Changes to This Policy. You will always be able to determine when this Policy was last revised by checking the "Last revised" legend at the top of this Policy. We reserve the right to make changes to this Policy from time to time, notice of which we may provide to you by any reasonable means, including, but not limited to, posting the revised draft of the Policy on the Site. Your continued use of the Site following changes to the Policy will signify your acceptance of those changes.

(h) Jurisdictional Issues. The Site is controlled and operated by AFC from the United States, and is not intended to subject AFC to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than that of the United States. AFC does not represent or warrant that the Site, or any part thereof, is appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction. Those who choose to access the Site do so on their own initiative and at their own risk, and are responsible for complying with all local laws, rules and regulations. We may limit the Site's availability, in whole or in part, to any person, geographic area or jurisdiction we choose, at any time and in our sole discretion.

(i) Online vs. Offline Practices. Please note that, except as otherwise expressly set forth herein, this Privacy Policy applies solely to our online information gathering and dissemination practices in connection with the Site, and does not apply to any of our practices conducted offline.

(j) Questions. If you have any questions regarding AFC's Privacy Policy, please contact us.