Policy 5.7 - Internet Privacy Policy

Date: November 20, 2023, Resolution #23-142

Supersedes:
June 18, 2018, Resolution #18-87

Purpose

For purposes of this policy, the term “personal information” is defined as any information concerning a data subject which, because of name, number, symbol, mark or other identifier, can be used to identify that data subject.

Policy

The SUNY Schenectady County Community College (“SUNY Schenectady” or the “College”) is committed to protecting your privacy and personal information,¹ making it easier and more efficient for individuals and businesses to interact with the College. You can visit most of sunysccc.edu without providing any information about yourself. Sometimes the College needs information from you to provide services that you request, and this Internet Privacy Policy explains our online information practices.

SUNY Schenectady does not collect your name, physical address, telephone number or any other similar personal information about your visit to sunysccc.edu unless you provide that information voluntarily by sending an e-mail or completing an online form.

¹ For purposes of this policy, the term “personal information” is defined as any information concerning a data subject which, because of name, number, symbol, mark or other identifier, can be used to identify that data subject.

Information Collected Automatically When You Visit sunysccc.edu:

When visiting sunysccc.edu, the College web server automatically collects and stores certain technical and session information, including:

• The Internet Protocol ( IP ) address or host name of the computer that accessed the website
• The type of browser, its version, and operating system
• The web page from which the user accessed the current web page
• The website address of the site you visited prior to this site or the site that linked you to this site
• The date and time of your request
• The webpages or services you accessed and the amount of time spent at each page
• The transport protocol and the version used

The information SUNY Schenectady collects is used to improve sunysccc.edu’s content and to help SCCC understand how users are interacting with its website. This information is collected for statistical analysis, to determine what information is of most and least interest to our users.

This information also is used to measure the effectiveness of the College’s online advertising on third party websites. The information is not collected for commercial marketing purposes and the College does not sell or otherwise disclose the information collected from sunysccc.edu for commercial marketing purposes.

Information Collected When You Intentionally Share Information:

During your visit to sunysccc.edu you may elect to send an e-mail to a College office or representative. When you do so, your e-mail address and the contents of your message will be collected. Your e-mail address and the information included in your message will be used to respond to you, to address issues you identify, to improve this website, or to forward your message to another campus office for appropriate action. Your e-mail address is not collected for commercial purposes and the College does not sell or otherwise disclose your e-mail address for commercial purposes.

During your visit to sunysccc.edu you may also opt to complete a transaction such as an online application or an information request form. The information collected by the College, including personal information volunteered by you in completing the transaction, is used by the College to provide services or information tailored specifically to your needs, to forward your message to another entity that is better equipped to assist you, or to plan website improvements.

The College does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 or create profiles of children under the age of 13. Users are cautioned, however, that the collection of personal information submitted in an e-mail will be treated as though it was submitted by an adult, and may, unless exempted from access by federal or state law, be subject to public access pursuant to the New York State Freedom of Information Law. You may notify us at any time if you believe the College has collected any information from a child under the age of 13. The College will delete such information if it cannot determine that the user 13 or older, or if the College is unable to obtain consent to maintain such information from the child’s parent or legal guardian.

Disclosure of Information Collected through This Website

The College will only collect personal information through sunysccc.edu or disclose personal information collected through sunysccc.edu if the user has consented to the collection or disclosure of such personal information. The voluntary disclosure of personal information to the College constitutes consent to the collection and disclosure of the information by the College for the purposes for which the user disclosed the information to the College as was reasonably ascertainable from the nature and terms of the disclosure.

The College may collect or disclose personal information without consent if the collection or disclosure is: (1) necessary to perform the statutory duties of the College, or necessary for the College to operate a program authorized by law, or authorized by state or federal statute or regulation; (2) made pursuant to a court order or by law; (3) for the purpose of validating the identity of the user; or (4) of information to be used solely for statistical purposes that is in a form that cannot be used to identify any particular person.

Further, the disclosure of information, including personal information, collected through sunysccc.edu is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Law and other applicable laws.

The College also may disclose personal information to federal or state law enforcement authorities to enforce its rights against unauthorized access or attempted unauthorized access to the College's information technology assets.

Retention of Information Collected through sunysccc.edu:

The information collected through sunysccc.edu is retained by the College in accordance with the records disposition requirements of New York law and applicable regulations, including Section 57.05 of the New York State Arts and Cultural Affairs Law and Records Retention and Disposition Schedule CO-2 maintained by the New York State Archives.

Security:

For website security purposes and to maintain the availability of sunysccc.edu for all users, the College employs software to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise damage sunysccc.edu. The College reserves the right to retain and/or disclose records relating to access or use of the sunysccc.edu site as necessary to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the College’s Information and Information Systems.

Cookies:

A cookie is a simple text file that is sent to a web browser from a website and is stored on the computer of a site visitor. Cookies provide a website the means of distinguishing among visitors. The use of cookies is a standard practice among Internet websites.

Cookies, when permitted by the web browsers of our site visitors, may be used on the College website to collect information such as:

• date and time of pages visited
• referring web page
• type of browser used

Aggregate information collected will be utilized to determine the broad viewing interests of our audience. Site developers will then enhance and customize the site based on this data. Session cookies are created automatically on the computer or other device used to access a website. They do not contain personal information. A session cookie is erased when the browser is closed.

A persistent cookie is a small text file stored on a site visitor’s hard drive for an extended period of time. For example, where the College allows you to complete a registration to
personalize the website, a "persistent cookie" will be stored on your computer's hard drive. This persistent cookie will allow the website to recognize you when you visit again and tailor the information presented to you based on your needs and interests. Persistent cookies may also be used on pages that do not require user registration.

By default, most web browsers are set to accept cookies, however they can be configured to refuse cookies. Browsers can also be used to delete existing cookies. Refusing or deleting cookies may limit your ability to take advantage of some features of the sunysccc.edu website.

e-Commerce Transactions and Third Party Sites:

The College does not conduct any e-Commerce transactions directly on sunysccc.edu. It is possible, however, to conduct e-Commerce Transactions on sites linked to sunysccc.edu, including the College bookstore. E-Commerce Transactions on linked sites may require you to share personal data about yourself, including credit card numbers or other financial information. Information you provide on linked sites is available to the third parties who operate those sites.

In addition, certain areas of the College’s website contain links to third party sites, such as the College’s virtual tour. You are encouraged to review the privacy policies of such sites before entering into any transaction or providing any information to any third party site linked to the sunysccc.edu site.

Disclaimer

The information provided in this privacy policy should not be construed as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail proof, the security of information provided through sunysccc.edu.

Procedures

SUNY Schenectady’s Chief Information Officer is responsible for this policy and its procedures. For questions regarding this policy, please contact the College’s Chief Information Officer.