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Privacy
Policy:
Welcome
to the SSTAR Web site. Your privacy is very important to us. The following policy applies
only to the use of the SSTAR Web site.
A Privacy Partnership. Your privacy with respect to the use of this
Web site results from a partnership between the SSTAR and you, the user. At
this Web site, we attempt to protect your privacy to the maximum extent
possible. However, because some of the information that we receive through
this Web site is subject to the Public
Records Law, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66, Section 10, we cannot
ensure absolute privacy. Information that you provide to us through this site
may be available to members of the public under that law. This policy informs
you of the information that we collect from you at this site, what we do with
it, to whom it may be disseminated, and how you can access it. Based on this
information, you can make an informed choice about your use of this site. You
can maximize the benefits of your privacy partnership with SSTAR by making
informed choices about whether to share personally identifiable information
with us through this site.
Personally Identifiable Information. We use the term "personally
identifiable information" to mean any information that could reasonably
be used to identify you, including your name, address, e-mail address, Social
Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card
information, or any combination that could be used to identify you.
Information Voluntarily Provided by You. This site collects voluntary
information from you through the e-mails that you send through this site, and in certain cases via the on-line submission
forms available. E-mails sent by you to this site and information submitted
via on-line submission forms will contain personally identifiable
information.
Information Automatically Collected and Stored by this Site. This site
does not collect "cookies", but does collect
and store indefinitely your Internet Protocol
("IP") address, which does not identify you as
an individual, as well as information about the date and time of your visit,
whether a file you have requested exists, and how many "bytes" of
information were transmitted to you over the Web from this site. We use your
IP address to assess the frequency of visits to this site and the popularity
of its various pages and functions. We will not attempt to match any
personally identifiable information that you provide to us with your IP
address, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would
provide information that is relevant and material to a criminal
investigation.
Dissemination of Your Personally Identifiable Information. We do not
sell any personally identifiable information collected through this Web site.
However, once you voluntarily submit personally identifiable information to
us through an e-mail or via an on-line submission form, its dissemination is
governed by the Public Records Law, the Massachusetts General Laws Chapter
66A (Fair Information Practices Act), Executive Order 412, and other
applicable laws and regulations. For this reason, part or all of the
information you send us may be provided to a member of the public in response
to a public records request.
With respect to employees of SSTAR, the information that you voluntarily
submit will be disclosed only to those employees or officials with a
"need to know" for purposes of fulfilling their job
responsibilities. They will only use the information to answer your
questions, respond to any requests for information assistance, and fulfill
SSTAR's legal obligations.
Your Access and Opportunity to Correct.
The
Public Records Law and the Fair
Information Practices Act provide you certain rights to get information
about you that is in our records. To learn more about the circumstances under
which you can get and correct this information, please click on the above
references to these laws.
Security. Because this site does not encrypt incoming e-mail or the
information gathered via on-line submission forms, you should not send
information that you consider highly sensitive through this Web site. We use
standard security measures to ensure that your personally identifiable
information is not lost, misused, altered, or unintentionally destroyed. We
also use software programs to monitor network traffic to identify
unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause
damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no attempts are
made to identify individual users or their usage habits.
Policy changes. We will make every effort to post changes to this
policy at least 30 days before they take effect. Any information we collect
under the current privacy policy will remain subject to the terms of this
policy. After any changes take effect, all new information we collect, if
any, will be subject to the new policy.
Contact Information. For questions about your privacy while using this
Web site, please contact Webmaster
of the SSTAR's Web Team.
Definitions:
Cookies are files that a Web site can place on
your computer. A cookie file contains unique information that a Web site can
use to track such things as your password, lists of Web pages you have
visited, and the date when you last looked at a specific Web page, or to
identify your session at a particular Web site. A cookie file allows the Web
site to recognize you as you click through pages on the site and when you
later revisit the site. A Web site can use cookies to "remember"
your preferences, and to record your browsing behavior on the Web. Although
you can prevent Web sites from placing cookies on your computer by using your
browser's preference menu, disabling cookies may affect your ability to view
or interact with some Web sites.
An "Internet
Protocol Address" or "IP Address" is a series of
numbers that identifies each computer and machine connected to the Internet.
An IP address enables a server on a computer network to send you the file
that you have requested on the Internet. The IP address disclosed to us may
identify the computer from which you are accessing the Internet, or a server
owned by your Internet Service Provider. Because it is machine-specific,
rather than person-specific, an IP address is not, in and of itself,
personally identifiable information.
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HIPAA:
HIPAA is
the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996. The main purpose of this federal statute was to help consumers
maintain their insurance coverage, but it also includes a separate set of
provisions called Administrative Simplification. This section of the
act is aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care
system.
Read more about HIPAA
at:
U.S. Dept of Civil
Rights
Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services
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