English
EspañolWomensLaw Privacy Policy
Introduction
At WomensLaw, a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (“NNEDV”), your privacy is very important to us. The purpose of this privacy policy (“Policy”) is to provide you with a description of the types of information we collect about you when you visit the WomensLaw.org website located at www.WomensLaw.org and associated sub-domains (“Site”), how we use that information, and the options available to you about how we use your information. By visiting or using the Site and/or using our online resources, tools and applications (collectively “Services”), you agree to the provisions of this Policy. If you do not agree to this Policy, you may choose not to use or access the Site or Services.
If you are reaching out for help or asking for resources through this website, in particular through the Email Hotline, accessed via https://hotline.womenslaw.org/ or through the “Email Hotline” button on www.WomensLaw.org, you are asked to enter an email address as your log-in name.
Please note that WomensLaw does not utilize the email address for any other purpose than to respond to your email inquiry or to notify you in the ways explained on the Email Hotline platform. We may also notify you if there was a privacy breach where our servers were hacked. Your email address and any other personally identifiable information are kept confidential by WomensLaw in the manner outlined below and will not be disclosed to any person or entity for any reason without your written, informed consent, unless WomensLaw is compelled to provide it by court order, and only then after using the full extent of the legal system to resist disclosure (i.e., using a motion to quash). Please see below for further explanation.
How We Protect Your Information
Personal Information
WomensLaw staff, volunteers, contract attorneys, and programmers may have access to your personal information. All of them are bound by our confidentiality policy. For these purposes, “personal information” means the identity of the person seeking services (“User”) through the WomensLaw Email Hotline or the identity of any person(s) whose name is mentioned within the User’s email inquiry made to the Email Hotline; the age, number of children, physical address, IP address, email address, or any other information that could identify the User.
WomensLaw will not share the aforementioned information with anyone other than those mentioned above without a written, informed, and time-limited consent to release of information. WomensLaw does share, however, with its funders or others, a tally (total) of the number of the general topic areas that were addressed in the email correspondence (e.g., custody, divorce, protection order), the language in which the email inquiry was written (i.e., Spanish or English), and the following self-identifying characteristics that may be shared by users of the Email Hotline: the income level, gender, race/ethnic identity, education level, age, and the User’s state. This information, however, is shared only in the aggregate and is never associated with a specific User or that User’s IP address or email address. In addition, WomensLaw may utilize information from an Email Hotline query – either the User’s submission or the User’s reply to thank WomensLaw – for our social media posts or in reports submitted to a current or potential funder in order to show the type of inquiries that we address or to show how the Email Hotline helps its users. However, WomensLaw strips out any personally identifiable information (such as the User’s name, age, and location) and any details which may potentially identify the User (such as unique descriptors of the abusive partner or unique details of a court case).
Another step that WomensLaw takes to safeguard Users’ personally identifiable information is that 90 days after the last contact between an Email Hotline User and WomensLaw, the User’s “secure account” that was created on the WomensLaw.org website and all of the information related to the User’s use of the Email Hotline is automatically deleted and purged from the server. The information that is deleted includes, but is not limited to, the User’s name, IP address, email address, Email Hotline query(ies), and WomensLaw’s response(s). We do not delete the state that the Email Hotline User indicated, or the answers to the demographic questions that the User may have provided. However, all other identifying information that is related to these pieces of information that are stored is completely removed. If there are consecutive conversations within the same account, the information stored will not be deleted until the most recent contact is at least 90 days old.
Information We Collect and How We Use It
We collect and store information that you voluntarily provide to us as well as data related to your use of the Site and Services, as follows:
Log Data / Cookies
When you visit www.WomensLaw.org, we automatically collect certain information and analytical data related to your use of the Site and Services through a program called Google Analytics.™ Google Analytics collects information such as users’ IP address (which contains location information), how often users visit this Site, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they were using prior to coming to the Site.
WomensLaw uses this information to monitor and analyze use of the Site and to know which legal topics are most often accessed, to increase our Site’s functionality and user-friendliness, to better tailor it to our visitors’ needs, and for the Site’s technical administration. Log data information or any information that we access through Google Analytics will not be compared, associated, or combined with Personal Information you share with us; however, log data, such as IP address, by itself, may be personally identifiable information.
Although Google Analytics plants a persistent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google (not by NNEDV or WomensLaw). Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to the Site is restricted by the Google Analytics’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. NNEDV’s and WomensLaw’s Privacy Policy does not cover the use of cookies or tracking technologies by Google Analytics or any other business partner. Google Analytics makes its own policies regarding confidentiality and information usage and sharing of IP addresses that it logs. To read the privacy policy of Google Analytics, please go to their website here: www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
If you do not want your IP address to be logged by Google Analytics when using www.WomensLaw.org, you may want to use a computer at a public library or other location that is not affiliated with your personal computer’s IP address.
The WomensLaw website and Email Hotline website uses session cookies which allow visitors to customize their experience by selecting their state and language preferences. These session cookies expire as soon as the user closes the browser and are not stored on the user’s hard drive once the browser is closed. Session cookies are not logged on our servers, and contain no personally identifiable information. Other than this feature, our website makes no use of cookies.
Log Data
WomensLaw shares log data information, such as those statistics gathered through Google Analytics, with third parties for industry analysis, grant-reporting, and other purposes. However, we will not compare, associate, or combine log data with any personal information you share with us. Note that certain log data, such as IP Address, by itself, may be personally identifiable information.
Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement
We may disclose your information to government, law enforcement, or other parties when appropriate to protect our rights, to cooperate in investigations of fraud or other illegal or inappropriate activity, or if compelled by court order, though only after using the full extent of the legal system to resist disclosure (i.e., using a motion to quash).
We will make reasonable efforts to contact the Email Hotline user or WomensLaw.org website user before providing information to the party that requests it. We will also make all reasonable efforts to maintain confidentiality of a domestic abuse survivor’s personal information, if it is known to us as such, in accordance to our obligations under confidentiality laws.
Your Rights
Opting Out
Although the Email Hotline requests personal information, such as your state, first name, and email address, you can choose to not provide the information requested and still submit a question/inquiry through the Email Hotline. If you choose not to provide your actual email address, you can only access your Email Hotline response from WomensLaw through the secure online account option as opposed to through the email option.
Please note that even though the secure online account asks you to enter an email address as your log-in name, this is done only so users are more likely to remember their log-in name. However, you can create a fake email address or other password and still utilize the secure online account option. Alternatively, you can opt out of using the Email Hotline system.
Links to Other Sites
Our site includes links to other websites (“third-party websites”). The fact that we link to a website is not an endorsement, authorization or representation of an affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of that third party’s privacy or information security policies or practices.
We do not exercise control over third-party websites. These other websites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data, or solicit personal information from you. Please be aware that when you enter a third-party website, any information you provide is subject to the terms of use and privacy policy of that third-party website.
Policy Changes
Unless stated otherwise, our current policy applies to all information that we collect about you through the WomensLaw website and Services.
Contact Information
To contact us with your questions or comments regarding this Policy or the information collection and dissemination practices of the Site and Services, please contact us at:
WomensLaw at NNEDV
1325 Massachusetts Ave NW, 7th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Telephone: 202-543-5566
Fax: 202-543-5626
