The Legal Aid Society Community Justice Unit

The Legal Aid Society's Privacy Policy

The Legal Aid Society (the "Society") is committed to maintaining your confidence and trust, and accordingly maintains the following privacy policy (the "Policy") to protect personal information you provide. By visiting or using the Society's website, 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 Society's website.

The Society's Commitment to Security

Physical, electronic and managerial procedures have been employed to safeguard the security and integrity of personal information. Personal information is accessible only by staff and third party vendors designated to handle complaints or requests. All Society agents and contractors with access to personal information obtained on the Society's website are also bound to adhere to this Policy as part of their contract with the Society.

Personal Information that the Society May Collect Online

You do not have to provide personal information to visit or use the Society's website in general. Personal information includes information such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, street address, credit card number and credit card expiration date. The Society or a third party vendor engaged by the Society collects personal information only when you voluntarily and affirmatively provide it on the Society's website, such as during an online transaction to make donations, apply for a job, internship or a fellowship, complete registrations or surveys, or volunteer pro bono services. When you make online donations on the Society's website your information will be processed by a third party vendor. You should read the Privacy Policy of the third party vendor before providing your personal information, https://15034.thankyou4caring.org/

Through this website, The Society does not knowingly collect or maintain any personal information from children under the age of 13. In addition, no part of the Society's website is designed with the purpose of attracting any person under age 13 other than the information about the Society's legal services for children who are represented by the Society pursuant to an appointment made by the New York City Family Court.

How the Society May Use Personal Information Collected Online

Unless you consent otherwise, the Society will use your personal information to reply to inquiries, to handle your complaints, to provide information about programs and services, and to process donations and business requests. The Society will use such information to provide operational notices, in program recordkeeping and to conduct research on the Society's practices. The Society's research may lead to the publication of aggregate demographical data but will not result in the reporting or publication of any personal information provided to the Society.

At certain points where personal information is collected on the Society's website, there may be a box where you may indicate you would like to be on a list to receive information about other Society programs and services and about ways to support the Society. At any time you can add or remove your name from the Society's mailing list by contacting the Society at [email protected].

How Your Information May Be Shared

By filing a complaint or sending the Society a request or inquiry, or by making an online donation, you are allowing the Society to forward your information to the proper department within the Society.

The Society may work with third parties who provide services that may include, but are not necessarily limited to, website hosting, internet services, data analysis, processing financial transactions and other services of an administrative or technical nature. The Society reserves the right to share personal information with such third parties for the purpose of providing such services. From time to time, the Society may make contact information (names and postal addresses) available to other reputable organizations whose products, programs or activities may be of interest to you. The Society carefully screens all organizations before allowing the use of our list. The list is never sold. If you would like us to restrict the use of your contact information, please either send us an email the Development Department at [email protected], call us at 212-577-7985 or write us at The Legal Aid Society, 199 Water Street, New York, NY 10038, Attention: Development Department.

The Society will also release personal information under the following circumstances: (1) where release is required by law (for example, a subpoena) or regulation, or is requested by a government agency conducting investigations or proceedings; (2) to appropriate persons, where your communication suggests possible harm to others; (3) to enforce the website's terms of use; or (4) to respond to an emergency. The Society also reserves the right to report any suspected illegal activity to law enforcement individuals or entities for investigation or prosecution.

Computer Tracking and Cookies

The Society's website is not set up to track, collect or distribute personal information not entered by its visitors. The Society's website logs do generate certain kinds of non-identifying website usage data, such as the number of hits and visits to the Society's website. This data does not contain personal information and cannot be used to gather such information. This data is used for internal purposes by technical support staff to provide better services to the public and may also be provided to others.

The Society uses non-identifying cookies to provide easier website navigation and access to forms. A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. The Society's cookies do not generate personal data, do not read personal data from your machine and are never tied to anything that could be used to identify you. 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.

Third Party Websites, Email Addresses and Services

Third parties may collect information about you, through cookies or other technologies, when you link to their websites from the Society's website or when you contact them through email links on the Society's website. Your internet or other service provider(s) may also collect information about or submitted by you while you use the Society's website or other websites on the internet. The Society does not monitor or control the websites or information collection or privacy practices of these or any other third parties, and is not responsible for their practices or the content of their websites or services or any other conduct in which they engage. The Society provides links on the website to third-party websites and email addresses only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link on the Society's website does not imply the Society's endorsement of the linked website. You should review the privacy policies of such third parties to understand how they collect and use information.

Changes to Policy

You will always be able to determine when this Policy was last revised by checking the "Last Updated" legend at the bottom of the Policy. The Society reserves the right to make changes to this Policy from time to time, which the Society may provide to you by any reasonable means including, but not limited to, posting the revised draft of the Policy on the website. Your continued use of the website following changes to the Policy will signify your acceptance of those changes.

Online vs. Offline Practices

Please note that this Policy applies solely to the Society's online information-gathering and dissemination practices in connection with the website, and does not apply to any of the Society's practices conducted offline.

Help The Society Keep Your Personal Information Accurate

If your personal information changes or you would like to review the personal information the Society may have on file, please email the Society with the new information or your review request at [email protected]. Let the Society also know the department or Society program that led to your submission of personal information so the Society may efficiently locate your information.

Problems

If you have a complaint about the Society's compliance with this Policy, you may contact the Society at [email protected].


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