This online privacy statement explains the ways in which UW–Madison collects information about you while you use UW–Madison websites, the uses to which that information will be put, and the ways in which we protect information you choose to provide us. We are committed to protecting your privacy and do not sell or share the information you provide to parties beyond the University without your consent. By using UW–Madison websites you are accepting the terms of this privacy statement.
INFORMATION COLLECTED
- We automatically collect and store certain non-personal information while you use our site. We use this information primarily to monitor the use of these sites and to make improvements. Individual names or usernames are not collected. Host names and/or IP addresses are collected and only associated with individual users where required to do so by law, to protect and defend our rights or property, or in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of any individual. This information may include your browser type, domain names, IP address, unique device identifier, search criteria used, content viewed, and the emails and phone numbers that you contact through the Website, the pages you view, access times and referring website addresses. This information is used by us to analyze and track user behavior, personalize your experience, provide statistics regarding usage of the Website, and display relevant advertising. We may use “cookies” or similar technology. You can accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the site. In some cases, our third-party service providers may also use cookies and other technologies on our sites.
- Other technologies, including single-pixel gifs (also known as web beacons), may also be used on university websites and in promotional email messages or newsletters. Web beacons allow us to monitor the actions of a user opening the page that contained the web beacon. They also help us determine how many users have visited certain pages or opened messages or newsletters, improve user experience, and manage site content. When you click on a link on a page with a web beacon, we may record your response to customize our offerings to you. We may use this information to tailor messaging to you on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube.
- Some university websites (e.g., UW–Madison Division of Continuing Studies) may occasionally use Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA), sometimes called interest-based advertising. OBA uses information collected across multiple websites that you visit to predict your preferences or infer interests and to show you information more likely to be of interest to you. Details about opting out of third-party use of OBA cookies is found here: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/.
- We may use commercial services to collect anonymous data about site usage. University staff may use Google Analytics to collect site usage data and to analyze overall usage of the site. Google Analytics uses cookies in your Web browsing software to track user sessions so that it can collect data about how users view and navigate the site. The data collected never includes names, usernames or email addresses. Individual IP addresses are collected, but they are not associated with individual users other than as noted above. You may prevent Google Analytics from collecting data by turning off cookies in the preferences settings in your browser. For more information on Google Analytics, please visit Google’s website.
- We have some websites that use Oracle Eloqua to help us recruit learners through some marketing campaigns. The Eloqua tracking cookie is offered by a range of University websites, which enables the University to measure website usage across the University. In addition to anonymous tracking, and only if you choose to directly submit your personal information on certain University web forms, we will then also track your use of University websites in combination with personal information that you have shared with the University via other sources. This combination of information will be shared only with appropriate, authorized University staff.
- We also collect personal information that you voluntarily submit such as your name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other information necessary to process your request. We never sell or share the information provided to third parties. Our general practice is to use personal information only for the purposes for which it was requested and any additional uses specifically stated on the Site. However, information collected through this site may be subject to the University’s obligation to respond to subpoenas, court orders, discovery requests, and requests for public records under the Wisconsin Public Records law. Further, the disclosure of information collected through this site is subject to the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Lastly, University websites don’t intend to collect personal data from children under age 13 and we request that children under age 13 not submit personal data to us through our websites.
OTHER WEBSITES
The websites offering this privacy statement may contain links to other independently run websites within the UW-Madison network and to some sites outside the “wisc.edu” domain. We encourage users to read the privacy statements of each website they visit.
SECURITY
Although this site has security measures in place to protect personal information provided to us by users, users should also take steps to protect personal information by, for example, closing all web browsers after using the site. Information disclosed in news groups, forums, message boards and similar contexts may become public. Users should therefore exercise caution before disclosing personal information in such contexts.
CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY STATEMENT
If we make changes to our privacy statement, we will indicate them on this page.
CONTACTING US
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site or your experiences with this site, contact:
University Marketing
Attention: Website Privacy Statement
711 State St., Suite 200
Madison, WI 53703
E-mail: homepage@umark.wisc.edu