Pew Research Center shares your concerns about maintaining the integrity and privacy of personal information collected on the internet. Pew Research Center is committed to protecting your privacy, and this privacy policy (“Policy”) is intended to explain our information collection and dissemination practices in connection with Pew Research Center family of websites located at www.pewresearch.org (the “Sites”). Please review the entire Policy and feel free to contact us at info@pewresearch.org if you have any questions. Also, please read our Terms & Conditions for accessing the Sites and using the content.
By using the Sites, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of information in accordance with the terms of this Policy. This Policy was last updated on December 13, 2012 Any information you submitted prior to December 17, 2012 will be governed by the terms of the previous privacy policy. A link to the previous privacy policy can be found here. This updated Policy is effective as of December 17, 2012. Your continued use of the Sites after December 17, 2012 is deemed to constitute your consent to the updated Policy.
In addition, Pew Research Center reserves the right to update this Policy at any time. If we change our Policy, we will provide notice of the change on this page or send you an email so that you are aware of the information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. Use of the Sites after the effective date of any additional modifications of this Policy is deemed to constitute your consent to this Policy as further amended.
1) Collection of Personal Information
In order to monitor the Sites’ performance, provide you with a better experience when visiting the Sites and for statistical and routine system maintenance purposes, Pew Research Center may automatically collect the following through the use of first-party cookies: (a) the home server domain names, IP addresses, geographic location, type of computer and operating system, type of web browser or device of users of the Sites (“you”), and (b) aggregate information on which pages you access and relevant information such as the date on which these pages were accessed. This information is only used in aggregate form and does not identify you personally. Pew Research Center uses the services of Google Analytics, Crazy Egg and Chartbeat to monitor visitor interaction with the Sites:
Beyond the above information, Pew Research Center only collects personal information (e.g., name, email, mailing address and phone number) that you voluntarily submit to us. This information is used by Pew Research Center or its contracted service providers solely to provide you with the information and materials you have requested, such as datasets, email updates and other materials regarding Pew Research Center and its programs. If you choose to email us and provide personally identifiable information, we will not use the information for any purpose other than to respond to your inquiry.
Registration for Pew Research Center Websites:
Registration is not required for the Sites. However, all researchers wishing to access Pew Research datasets will be required to provide personal contact information and to read and accept our dataset agreement. We collect this information solely for the purpose of contacting scholars who have accessed a particular data set, in the event that errors are discovered in the data.
2) Use of Personal Data Collected
Pew Research Center will not sell, share, rent or disclose to third parties any individually identifying information, such as names, postal and email addresses, telephone numbers, and other personal information which you voluntarily provide to us, except (a) to provide the services you have requested; (b) to the extent necessary to comply with applicable laws or valid legal processes; or (c) to protect Pew Research Center’s intellectual property and other legal rights. Information submitted to us is only available to employees managing this information for the purposes of contacting you or sending you permission-based emails following your request for information, and to contracted service providers for the purposes of providing services relating to our communications with you.
Pew Research Center works with third-party vendors Constant Contact and MailChimp to provide users with its email update and newsletter services. While these vendors have access to your personally identifiable information in order to provide email services, they are required to maintain the privacy of all information in their control and can only use the information on our behalf for the stated purpose and are not authorized to use your information for any other purpose. You may opt out of any Pew Research newsletter by clicking “unsubscribe” at the bottom of each newsletter and following the subsequent instructions.
3) User’s Rights
You may obtain a summary of your personally identifiable information retained by us, or modify, correct, change or update such information by contacting Pew Research Center via the postal address, email address, or telephone number listed in Section 6 (Right to Contact) below.
You may also request that Pew Research Center remove from its database any personally identifiable information you have previously provided by contacting Pew Research Center via the postal address, email address, or telephone number listed in Section 6 (Right to Contact) below. Complete removal may not be immediate, and in some instances, all archival copies may be impossible to delete. Also, if you would like to opt out of receiving any communications, please contact Pew Research Center at info@pewresearch.org.
4) Links
The Sites may contain links to other Internet web sites. However, Pew Research Center does not endorse, and is not responsible for, the privacy practices or the content of these web sites. You should review these policies in connection with your use of such third-party sites.
5) Security Measures
Pew Research Center has established reasonable precautions to protect collected personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction, which includes contractual, administrative, physical, and technical steps. Technical measures include the use of firewall protection. Although Pew Research Center takes reasonable precautions to assess the reliability of such technology, it relies on the statements of the vendors of those products and services as part of its security evaluation. Please note that while Pew Research Center has endeavored to create secure and reliable Sites for its users, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to/from Pew Research Center via the Sites or email cannot be guaranteed.
Pew Research Center urges you to take reasonable precautions to protect your personal data when you are on the Internet.
6) Right to Contact
Pew Research Center reserves the right to contact users of the Sites regarding changes to this Policy, the terms of use of the Sites, or any other policies, agreements or transactions relevant to Site users.
Questions or concerns regarding Pew Research Center’s data protections practices should be addressed to:
Pew Research Center
1615 L Street, NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: 202.419.4300
Email: info@pewresearch.org