Webfoundation.org Privacy and Information Security Policy (“Privacy Policy” or “Policy”)

Effective Date: November 14, 2009

Welcome. This Policy is designed to help you understand generally how Webfoundation.org (the “Site”) collects personally identifying information about you and how it uses and discloses that personal information. Webfoundation.org is a Web site of the World Wide Web Foundation (the “Foundation,” “we,” “us” etc.), a charitable trust existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, U.S.A. You may contact us at our Address For Legal Notices below. This Policy applies to information that personally identifies you (other than publicly available information) (“personal information”) collected on Webfoundation.org or any additional Foundation Web properties or third-party sites managed by the World Wide Web Foundation or, where indicated, other information you provide to us.

USE OF OUR SITE OR PROVISION OF ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION CONSTITUTES AGREEMENT TO THIS POLICY. DO NOT USE THE SITE OR PROVIDE INFORMATION (OR ALLOW OTHERS TO DO SO ON YOUR BEHALF) IF YOU (AND YOUR PRINCIPAL IF YOU ARE ACTING AS AGENT) DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL OF THE TERMS OF USE INCLUDING THIS POLICY AND ANY APPLICABLE SUPPLEMENTAL PRIVACY POLICY.

Table of Contents

1. How Does This Policy Relate to Use of the Site?

2. Information We Collect That You Do Not Provide

3. Information We Collect That You Do Provide

4. Information You Provide About Others

5. What We Generally Do with Personal Information Collected

6. Your Ability to Update Personal Information

7. Information Security

8. Your Particular Consents

9. Children

10. Identity Theft

11. Amendments

12. Information About Enforcement of Our Policy

13. Supplemental Privacy Policy—Jobs

1. How Does This Policy Relate to Use of the Site?

This Policy is part of and incorporated into the Webfoundation.org Terms of Use (“Terms of Use”), which is the contract between you and the foundation governing use of the Site. Parts of the Terms of Use affect this Policy, so, unless you have already done so, please review them prior to using the Site. Terms used but not defined in this Policy have the definitions in the Terms of Use.

This Policy is supplemented by additional policies relevant to particular activities, and each of the supplemental policies is incorporated into this Policy. Here are examples of areas in which you will encounter supplemental privacy policies but this list is not complete: if a supplemental policy is included on the Site with respect to a particular activity, or if one is included on a Third Party site relating to the mission of the Foundation, those supplemental policies will also apply and are also incorporated.

Back to top

2. Information We Collect That You Do Not Provide

Sometimes we collect personal information without you having to enter any information on the Site. For example, we may receive personal information from public sources of from third parties (which we may combine with other information from other sources).

In addition, we collect some information automatically from visitors to the Site, for example through the use of “cookies”, “web beacons”, and other tracking mechanisms. We collect at least the following: your domain name and host for Internet access; the Internet address of the site from which you came; the date and time of your access; your computer’s IP address and information about its operating system, browser and host; the date and time you access the Site and the pages you visit. If you do not want to receive cookies, you may set your browser to reject them. However, if you turn cookies off, you may not have access to some of the Site’s services and features. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issues cookies when you access the Site. We also may employ Web beacons from third parties to help us compile aggregated statistics regarding the operations of our site. We prohibit Web beacons on our site from being used by third parties to collect or access your personal information.

Back to top

3. Information We Collect That You Do Provide

It is always your choice, or the choice of anyone acting for you, whether to provide personal information. However, some must be provided to participate in certain programs or activities (such as to apply for a job), so the decision not to provide information might limit or eliminate certain functions of the Site or the ability to participate. Other information is up to your good judgment, e.g., do not provide personal information about yourself that could be misused by others in a chat room, bulletin board, blog or similar forum and do not provide personal information about others without their permission. The kinds of personal information we tend to request about you or others include but are not limited to your name, email address, native language, organization name, job title, city, state / province, region, country, age, locations for internet access and devices used. Additional information about what we collect is available in any supplemental privacy policies for particular activities.

Back to top

4. Information You Provide About Others

Do not supply personal information about others unless you are authorized or required to do so by applicable law or contract and you consent to the Terms of Use (including this Policy and supplemental policies) on behalf of yourself and the “data subject” (the person about whom you supply personal information). Before supplying personal information about others (except as otherwise allowed by law or contract), you must make available for the data subject’s review, and obtain their written consent to, said Terms of Use and policies. By submitting any personal information about others, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to do so and that you did all of the foregoing before submitting the information. If applicable law allows you to supply the information without doing the foregoing, you represent and warrant that you have abided by that law and that it allows us to receive and Disclose the information under this Policy without any further action on our part. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold us harmless against any failure by you to comply with this paragraph.

The Foundation works with Third Parties on certain programs, and often those Third Parties own and/or are responsible for that program’s Web site. In those cases, if you provide personal information, you will be giving it to a third party and their privacy policy will apply. You agree that if they provide it to us then we may apply our Policy to what we receive.

Back to top

5. What We Generally Do with Personal Information Collected

In general, we use personal information we collect to pursue our mission and operations and to engage in the activity (and related activities) for which we collect it. For example (and without limitation), if you sign up for a newsletter, we’ll send the newsletter and we’ll put you on our mailing list or even the list of a third party who we think has a similar mission; if you apply for a job, we’ll use the information to find out about you and share it with service providers and others we view as relevant to the employment process. Further information is available in the supplemental policies for some activities, but you should assume that we will use all information for all lawful purposes. Subject to applicable law, we reserve the right voluntarily or involuntarily to make all lawful, worldwide uses of personal information, including without limitation, to : collect, use, access (or bar access), process, fulfill, disclose, display, share, respond to legal process or otherwise exercise our rights under applicable law, transfer, store, sell, lease, retain, commingle, investigate, verify, prove, enforce, delete, and otherwise deal with personal information, and information other than personal information, voluntarily or involuntarily (collectively “Disclose”).

Back to top

6. Your Ability to Update Personal Information

In general, our systems do not provide the ability for you to update your information at this time. If your information has changed, you may submit your new information as a new registration or subscription when appropriate (as determined by us).

We keep personal information for as long as we think is necessary or advisable and we reserve the right to retain it to the full extent not prohibited by law. We may discard personal information in our discretion, so you should retain your own records, and not rely upon our storage of any personal information or other data.

Back to top

7. Information Security

WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THE SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OR OTHER INFORMATION IN ANY FORM.

Back to top

8. Your Particular Consents

In addition to consenting to the Terms of Use, including this Policy (and any relevant supplemental policies), the Foundation is interested in letting you know about, and receiving your particular consent to, a few activities relating to personal information that will help us to deal with personal information that is Disclosed in furtherance of our mission, operations and programs. These are described immediately below.

• Consent to International Transfer and Disclosure of Personal Information. We are involved in programs and activities in a variety of countries. You agree that the Foundation and those with whom we share personal information (“Recipients”) may Disclose and transfer your personal information worldwide (including outside the European Economic Area, if you are based in the European Economic Area) for any purpose relating to our or their mission, operations, programs, or otherwise that is not allowed or prohibited by this Policy.
• Consent to Electronic Notice If There is a Security Breach: If we or a Recipient is required to provide notice of unauthorized access or other invasion of certain security systems, you agree that we (or they) may do so when required (or voluntarily) by posting notice on our Site or sending notice to any email address we have for you, in our (or their) good faith discretion. You agree that notice to you will count as notice to others for whom you are acting, and agree to pass the notice on to them.

Back to top

9. Children

We do not want to collect information from children. Do not provide any personal information unless you are at least 13 years of age, and please caution your children not to provide any. If a child under 13 has provided personal information, a parent or guardian may so inform us by writing us at Our Address for Legal Notices (see below) and we will use commercially reasonable efforts to delete it from our database, subject to applicable law and this Policy.

Back to top

10. Identity Theft

If anyone believes they’re a victim of identity theft entitled by law to request information from us, write us at Our Address For Legal Notices and we’ll explain what information we require in order to respond. After receiving that information, we’ll supply (without charge) information we then have that we are legally required to provide (subject to applicable law and reserving all rights and defenses).

Back to top

11. Amendments

We will be changing what we do and how and why we Disclose data periodically—this Policy describes what we currently envision, but that will change as we change. You agree that this Policy amends and replaces any previous privacy polic(ies). We may further amend all or part of this Policy in the same way that we make amendments to our Terms of Use and such amended versions will be posted on this page.

Back to top

12. Information About Enforcement of Our Policy

This Policy is part of and supplemented by our Terms of Use, which together with any supplemental privacy policy form a contract. If there is a conflict between the Terms of Use and this Policy, the latest version of this Policy will control. We and you are bound by the Terms of Use, including this Policy. If you think we are in default, you may contact us by writing to Our Address For Legal Notices. There are no third party beneficiaries of this Policy.

Our Address for Legal Notices:

World Wide Web Foundation

114 State St., Suite 600

Boston, MA 02109

Attn: Legal

Back to top

Supplemental Privacy Policy—Jobs

Welcome. This Supplemental Privacy Policy—Jobs (“Jobs Policy”) supplements the Privacy Policy for Webfoundation.org (“Site”). It applies if you use the “Jobs” section of the Site or if you allow or cause someone else to use it for you. If an applicant has a disability and needs assistance using our online systems, completing a profile, an application for employment, or any other aspect of the application process, please notify our Disability Coordinator (at contact@webfoundation.org) and we will make appropriate arrangements. We are an equal opportunity employer.

This Jobs Policy is part of our Privacy and Information Security Policy (“Privacy Policy”) which is part of our Terms of Use; terms used but not defined in this Jobs Policy are defined in those documents. CREATING A PROFILE, SUBMITTING ANY INFORMATION RELATING TO A POSSIBLE JOB OPPORTUNITY, MAKING ANY APPLICATION(S), OR ALLOWING SOMEONE ELSE (SUCH AS A RECRUITER) TO DO THAT FOR YOU, WILL BE YOUR CONSENT TO OUR TERMS OF USE, INCLUDING OUR PRIVACY POLICY AND THIS SUPPLEMENTAL POLICY.

If you are a recruiter, friend or someone other than job applicant (“Applicant”), you represent and warrant to the Foundation that you have shown the Applicant the Terms of Use (including the Privacy Policy and Jobs Policy) and that you have obtained written consent from the Applicant to those terms and policies or that you are otherwise authorized to do so and to submit personal information about Applicant.

Information That We Collect in Jobs. In addition to the personal information that we collect on the Site generally, in the Jobs section you may set up a “profile” which will require you to supply your email address and create a password and secret question to allow you to access your profile later. When you create a profile, submit an application, or authorize us to obtain a “consumer report” (such as a background check), we tend to collect this kind of information: name, address, telephone number, resume’, employment, compensation and educational history, previous grants from us, social security number (or national insurance number for an Applicant based in the UK or other local equivalent) and so on. We keep track of when applications are submitted and persons using your password can see several months of that history by clicking on “My Jobs” if you have a profile.

The information submitted about an Applicant online tends to be preliminary information. If we think there might be a good fit for a position, we often will ask the Applicant to complete a more formal application and also to authorize us to obtain a “consumer report” or “consumer investigative report.” Under U.S. law, a “consumer report” is a report bearing on credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is expected to be used or collected to serve as a factor in establishing Applicant’s eligibility for employment. An “investigative consumer report” tends to be the same thing but the information is obtained through personal interviews with neighbors, friends, associates or acquaintances etc. of the Applicant. Both kinds of reports (or other information we collect) can include information from court, administrative and criminal records.

Access to Information. You may update your profile personal information by using that Site functionality in the Jobs section. The foundation retains profiles in accordance with our records retention policy. We reserve the right to delete them and other information stored by or for you, so don’t store, for example, the only copy of a resume with us (and sometimes information will need to be re-entered). Profiles may be deleted at any time upon request by contacting contact@webfoundation.org. Neither changes to or deletion of a profile will alter information already submitted or relied upon.

How We Use Information Collected in Jobs. In addition to the uses of personal information allowed in the Privacy Policy, we make these kinds of uses of personal information submitted for a job. We Disclose it:

• to recruiters and other third parties who help us authenticate Applicants or review qualifications and credentials or to contact references;
• to our affiliates and other Third Parties or persons with whom Applicant might work if Applicant gets the job;
• when we are looking for someone who might fit a job need of ours or a Third Party, and to contact a previous Applicant to see if he or she might be interested in a job for which the Applicant did not apply. However, we do this in our discretion and without any obligation to do so;
• to communicate about receiving the application or about the job for which application was made, or to eliver legal or other notices; and
• to comply with applicable laws such as checking names against anti-terrorism lists or complying with immigration restrictions. If Applicant gets a job with us, we store the application and other information upon which we relied in Applicant’s personnel file and we may base post-employment decisions on it (including disciplinary actions).

Passwords; Redact Your Resume. The Terms of Use require you to keep secret your password and other access credentials confidential. That’s especially important if you don’t want persons obtaining your password to be able to see any resume or a profile or to see other information available (e.g., positions for which applications have been made). Also, take steps to create a safe resume: before uploading a resume, remove any sensitive information such as social security numbers, identification numbers (e.g., driver’s license), financial information, dates of birth etc. – we don’t need or want that information in a resume.
Security

• We store data associated with your application on a site provided by a service provider. The data is not encrypted but the service provider has agreed to provide a commercially reasonable level of security. Your resume and other data will also circulate through our offices and relevant Third Parties, and as explained in the Terms of Use, we do not guarantee security; also, we do not control Third Parties.
• You should assume the Site, storage and use generally is not encrypted and you should take steps to promote security (e.g., see the “Passwords; Redact Your Resume” section above).
• Please be wary of email “phishing” or other scams by persons pretending to be us or a Third Party working with us – if you are contacted and asked for sensitive personal information such as financial information or your social security number etc., you should assume that someone is trying to defraud you. We will already have that information if you provided it to us on one of our documents and so will anyone with whom we share personal information: generally we don’t need to ask for it again. If you’d like to check with us to help determine if the person communicating with you is really us or someone we shared with, please contact contact@webfoundation.org.

Back to top