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Westat Privacy Policy

1. Overview
2. Links
3. Cookies
4. Security Statement
5. Our Commitment to Children’s Privacy
6. How You Can Review or Correct Your Personal Information
7. Opt-Out Procedure
8. Information Collected from Employment Applications and Resumes
9. Revisions to this Privacy Policy

1. Overview
   The following Privacy Policy shall govern the collection or use of personal information provided to Westat, Inc. ("Westat") from this web site (the "Site"). Westat respects the privacy of every individual who visits our Site. We want you to understand what information Westat will collect and how we will use that information. Westat will exercise reasonable precautions to maintain the confidentiality of information provided by you in connection with accessing this Site. Westat does not collect personal information about individuals from this Site except when specifically and knowingly provided by such individuals and will not sell, rent, or trade personal information about our users to any third party. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Westat may disclose personal information in special cases: (1) when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interfering with (either intentionally or unintentionally) Westat’s rights, obligations, or property; (2) when, after good faith research, we believe that the law requires it; (3) to Westat’s business associates, as necessary to provide service or information to you that you have requested; and (4) in situations involving threats to the physical safety of any person.

   Westat is committed to the protection of the privacy and confidentiality of data obtained through its business and research activities. Westat’s internal and study-specific procedures routinely review the use of data to ensure that it is consistent with this policy, the Westat Assurance of Confidentiality of Survey Data, any individual authorization, and all applicable laws and international standards regarding privacy protection. The international standards include, without limitation, the European Union Data Protection Directive and the U.S. Department of Commerce Safe Harbor Provisions.

   When you give us your personal information (such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address), we will not sell, trade, or give this information to any third party. The information about you will only be used to improve our relationship and service to you.

   If you have provided us with your email address but do not want to receive email, we will respect your wishes. Just follow the "opt-out" procedure described in Section 7 below.

2. Links
   From time to time this Site may contain links to other sites. Westat is NOT responsible for the privacy practices or the content on other web sites. Westat does not disclose unique identifiers to those responsible for any linked sites. The linked sites, however, may collect personal information from you when you enter their site. This collecting of information is not subject to Westat’s control. To ensure protection of your privacy, always review the privacy policies of the sites you visit when linking from this Site.
3. "Cookies"
   Although the use of "cookies" (i.e., small data files sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive in order to track usage behavior) is common on the Internet, Westat does not use "cookie" technology to obtain information from online visitors to the Site or store any personal information in cookies. Some information may be stored in temporary session-only cookies solely to help manage sessions in interactive portions of the Site.
4. Security Statement
   In an effort to safeguard your personal information, Westat uses a variety of procedures to insure the security of the information you provide to us through this Site. Your personal information is protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). We use SSL encryption to protect online forms and other confidential information from interception and hacking. We use SSL because we believe that it provides reliable and secure operations infrastructure and comprehensive security, trust, and authentication practices.

   The encryption technology used does not apply to email transmissions. Therefore, if your communication includes sensitive information and you prefer not to use our secure online forms, please contact us by postal mail, courier, telephone, or fax rather than by email.

   The content of this Site and any data provided through this Site, including information such as your contact information that you may send via the email information request form or the email message form, are housed on secure servers.

5. Our Commitment to Children’s Privacy
   Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. We do not collect or maintain information at the Site from persons we know to be under age 13, and no part of our Site is designed to attract anyone under age 13. Please do not communicate with or contact us if you are under age 13.
6. How You Can Review or Correct Your Personal Information You can contact Westat to ask if we are keeping personal information about you which was gathered through this Site. If we do have personal information about you gathered through this Site, we will provide you with a readable copy of such personal information at no charge. Factual errors in your personal information, including out-of-date information, can be corrected by sending us a request that credibly shows our error.
7. Opt-Out Procedure
   You may always opt-out of receiving communications from us and/or from receiving or maintaining your personal information (such as your name, address and/or other contact information that you provide when you communicate with us). To remove any personal information from our database or to not receive future communications from Westat, contact us with the word "remove" in the subject line.
8. Information Collected from Employment Applications and Resumes
   Users may apply for employment at Westat through the Careers section of this Site, using the systems of one of our vendors. The information supplied by candidates is collected and accessed by our vendor and Westat during the recruitment process. We are obligated to collect and retain information related to recruiting and hiring decisions such that the opt-out provisions may not apply. For additional information about our vendor's Privacy Policy, please see its site.
9. Revisions to this Privacy Policy
   Westat may revise this Privacy Policy over time as new features are added to the Site or as Privacy law and standards evolve. We will post those changes prominently, but we recommend that you read this Privacy Policy each time you visit the Site.

Last Updated: April 28, 2007