Academy Web Policy

I. Privacy

Overview
Your privacy is important to the Academy, and we are committed to respecting that privacy. This statement describes the personal information practices for the Academy Web site, including what type of information is gathered and tracked, how the information is used, and with whom the information is shared.

Personal Information
In general, you can visit the Academy Web site without telling us who you are and without revealing any personal information about yourself. In using specific features of the site, such as access to articles from Daedalus and other online publications or our humanities database, you will be asked to give us personal information, such as your name and e-mail address, that will be needed to (for example) correspond with you or process your request. We may also use your e-mail address to provide you with information and additional updates about Academy publications and activities. Aside from aggregating data, with all personal information removed, to allow us to check on our own performance, it is our intent that your personal information will be used only to fulfill the request(s) you make of us, and to allow us to contact you solely for the reasons described in this paragraph. We will not exchange or sell your email address to third parties.

Information Security and Quality
We intend to protect the integrity of your personal information. To do this, we have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures, such as using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for transmission of credit card numbers and passwords, to help us keep your information secure, accurate, current, and complete. We will make a sincere effort to respond in a timely manner to your requests to correct inaccuracies in your personal information, to remove personal information you do not want stored, or to answer any questions you may have about our use of your information.

Information Gathered through Cookies and Other Technologies
In general, you can use the Academy Web site in all ways without using the technology known as "cookies." A cookie is a short identifier, stored on your computer, that a site may use to identify you when you make return visits to it. The features of the Academy site were designed to work without cookies, so if you turn them off, you may still browse and search our site. Performance may be slower, however. We may collect anonymous information from visits to the Academy site to help us provide better user service and a better user experience. For example, we keep track of the domains from which people visit, and we measure aggregate user activity on the Academy Web site, but we do so in ways that keep users’ personal identity and information anonymous. The Academy or the analytic vendors it selects may use this data to analyze site usage trends and statistics, to help us improve our site. When we collect personal data from you in connection with a transaction (an order, e-mail request, etc.) we may extract some information about that transaction in an anonymous format and combine it with other anonymous information such as clickstream data. This anonymous information is used and analyzed only at an aggregate level to help us understand trends and patterns in our site’s usage.

Business Relationships
The Academy Web site may contain links to other Web sites. The Academy is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these Web sites.

Questions Regarding this Statement
Any questions regarding this statement or our privacy policies should be directed to the Academy site manager at:

Director of Publications
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
136 Irving Street
Cambridge MA USA 02138
publications@amacad.org

By visiting and using the Academy Web site, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy. This privacy statement was last updated on October 9, 2009

II. Copyrighted Material on the Academy Site

The Minerva seal and all content produced by the Academy for the website (unless otherwise indicated) are the intellectual properties of the Academy and cannot be reproduced without permission from the Academy.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features that augment or enhance the Academy’s current interactive services, including the release of new Academy properties, shall be subject to the Academy’s online policy.