Privacy Policy

Privacy of your online information on NYSED.gov

SED Internet Privacy Policy | Online Information Practices | General Information about Internet Privacy | Cookies and Clear GIFs | General Information About Children's Online Privacy | SED Contact Information

Internet Privacy and Security Policy

Your online privacy is important. This section of the State Education Department’s Website provides information about this agency's approach to information from online visitors as well as general information about online privacy.

This policy is divided into several topics; you can scroll through the sections or use the links above.

SED INTERNET PRIVACY POLICY

This section describes the State Education Department's online information practice regarding the information collected from visitors to our Website and ways in which the office uses and maintains this information.

The SED Website has three main purposes:

  1. Provide useful information concerning educational policy and practice in New York and a description of the work of the State Education Department.
  2. Provide a means to communicate with staff of the State Education Department. You can use this Website as a convenient alternative to mail or telephone communication.
  3. Provide an electronic medium for local educational agencies to submitdata and conduct business with SED

The SED Website collects two kinds of information:

  1. Information you decide to give us, which may include personally identifiable information (PII); and
  2. Non-personal information your computer automatically provides to every Website you visit. This is sometimes referred to as "navigation" information. The SED retains this information only for a short time.
  Information you decide to give the SED Information your computer automatically transmits to all Websites
How the SED uses information you provide The SED Website provides a convenient way to communicate with the State Education Department in addition to the more traditional means such as mail, phone or in-person visits. For example, you can
  • send SED staff messages or
  • request information
SED retains this information and protects it just as if you had sent it by mail.		 SED temporarily retains the information automatically sent by your computer to evaluate the traffic through the SED Website to help make the site more user-friendly.
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Personally identifiable information is information about you, such as your name, address, or social security number, that someone could use to identify or locate you.

The SED acquires PII online when a visitor sends it. If you browse through the SED Website - reading, printing, or downloading information such as consumer brochures or press releases — you do not transmit PII.

The SED only uses PII for authorized government purposes, for example, authorizing information when processing payment claims or collecting data via web-based applications

 Automatic information typically does not personally identify you. Even when it could,  SED does not try to discover or use your identity.
Sensitive Information There may be particular privacy concerns with certain kinds of information such as financial or medical records. SED uses such information only for authorized government purposes. Automatic information typically does not include any sensitive information about you.
Information practices the SED does not use SED does not have a profile database of all online visitors. SED does not use persistent cookies, clear GIFs ("Web bugs"), or any kind of anonymous identifier to try to track or recognize you from visit to visit.

SED does not draw conclusions about you based on pages you view or search terms you enter.
Data sharing and transfer
  1. SED does not sell or rent information provided by online visitors.
  2. SED may share or disclose certain information you provide if necessary to fulfill government functions, such as mediating a complaint
 SED does not sell or rent the automatic navigation information your computer transmits.
Data security, integrity, and retention
  1.  SED does not store information submitted by all our visitors in an office-wide, master database.
  2. SED takes appropriate technical measures to protect the security and integrity of information the SED receives.
  3. Access to information provided by visitors online is limited to SED personnel who have authorization to access the data.
  4. The same rules of confidentiality that apply to information you might send the SED offline apply to information provided online.
  1. SED temporarily stores the automatic navigation information in a computer database. After six months, it purges this information from the SED databases.
  2. SED takes appropriate technical measure to protect the security and integrity of this information.

 

The following notices apply generally to any information the SED receives:

 

Exceptions
  1. Legal obligations to disclose information: SED may disclose information to comply with a court order, authorized law enforcement request, subpoena, or a request under federal or state "freedom of information" law.
  2. Emergency exceptions: If necessary to protect health or safety in an emergency situation, the SED may use, share or disclose information other than outlined in this policy.
  3. If there are other exceptions or special needs for handling information in a specific case, the SED will provide notice as appropriate.
Notice of changes in this Privacy Policy If any of the information in this section changes in a material way, SED will post 30 days advance notice on the Home page of this Website, with the effective date of the change. Where a specific page is affected specifically by a change in policy,  SED will post a clear and conspicuous notice.
Links to other Websites This Privacy Policy applies to the Website of the State Education Department of the State of New York. While the SED offers links to other Websites that may be of interest, SED disclaims any responsibility for their content and cannot vouch for their information practices.

 

DETAILS ON SED ONLINE INFORMATION PRACTICES

 

Personally identifiable information you give the SED Many visitors to the SED Website provide personally identifiable information for a particular purpose. For example -
  1. If you send the SED a message and want a reply, the SED needs at least your name and your e-mail address or telephone number.
  2. If you request a publication, the SED needs your name and street address to send it to you.
  3. If you are the authorized agent for a local educational agency which transacts business over the internet (e.g. submitting required data or processing payment payment claims).
Sharing information you give the SED The SED may need to share your information to perform government functions, just as if you had sent the SED the information by mail. For example -
  1. If you request that the SED mediate a  complaint against a local school district, SED might require the details of the complaint, which may include your identity.
  2. If you apply for employment, the SED may need to contact your references and perform other appropriate verification
Information your computer automatically provides to all Websites While you are browsing, your computer automatically provides certain "navigation" information to every Website you visit, including the SED Website. The navigation information includes:
  1. The address (also known as URL, short for "uniform resource locator") of any Web page you visited before you linked to an SED Web page.
  2. Your Internet Protocol address (or "IP address"). This is the Internet's address for your particular computer. A Website's computer must know your IP address so the site can send the Web page you ask to view.
  3. The Web-browsing software you are using.
  4. Whether your computer is configured to display English or some other language.
  5. Your online service provider.
  6. Note: Your computer does not automatically provide your e-mail address.
For example, if you have an AOL account, were visiting a page on the Yahoo site, and clicked on a link to the SED home page, your computer would transmit to the SED Website that:
  1. You are an AOL subscriber;
  2. You use a particular browser software version such as Internet Explorer 5.0.
  3. You were just visiting a particular page on www.yahoo.com.
  4. You linked to www.nysed.gov on a particular date at a particular time
Use of information your computer automatically provides to all Websites The SED Website uses automatic navigation information for internal, site-monitoring purposes.
  1. This data allows SED staff to measure visitors' interest in different sections of the Website, so the SED can make the site more useful to visitors.
  2. The SED generates internal reports that identify the number of web users on a given day who requested pages through particular online service providers. This information may report the volume of requests originating from a service provider associated with a particular school or company or from foreign countries.
The SED does not:
  1. analyze our visitors' automatic navigation information to attempt to identify unique or repeat visitors
  2. routinely retain permanent records of automatic navigation information
  3. attempt to identify individual visitors by analyzing their IP (Internet Protocol) addresses except in cases of attempted security breaches and/or intrusions.
Identifiability of domain names and IP addresses
  1. Identifiability of your domain name: If you access the Internet through facilities provided by an organization such as your school or business, your automatic navigation information may reveal the name of your organization. For example, a student's navigation information might let a Website know that the student accesses the Internet through www.myuniversity.edu.
  2. Geographic area: Similarly, if you access the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) located in a particular geographic area, a Website may be able to use the ISP's identity to infer that to be your geographic location.
  3. Identifiability of your IP address: Whether your IP address is identifiable depends on whether it is dynamic or static. If it is dynamic, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) assigns a different IP address for each online visit that does not identify any person or machine.

In contrast, if you access the Internet through an ISP that assigns you a static or fixed IP address (for example, DSL or cable modem service), your IP address will always be the same, and will identify your computer.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT INTERNET PRIVACY

SED handles information about visitors to the SED Website in the following manner:

Notice and disclosure SED provides notice and disclosure of its information practices by posting its privacy policy.
Choice/ Consent SED receives your online information only when you choose to disclose it, for example, by submitting an online complaint form or request for information. SED only uses this information for the purpose for which you disclosed it, except when the law or emergencies require the SED to do otherwise.
Access Because the State Education Department is an  agency dealing with information about children, it must carefully safeguard information. Access to personally identifiable information is  limited only to authorized staff.  If you need information you previously gave SED, please contact this office, and, if known, the bureau working on your initial request.
Security The SED takes reasonable measures to protect the security and integrity of information received. The SED periodically purges its computer files that log activity on the SED Website.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT COOKIES AND CLEAR GIFs ("WEB BUGS")

Although the SED does not use persistent cookies or clear GIFs ("Web bugs") on this Website, many sites do use this technology. Here is some helpful information.

Cookies

 

A cookie is...
  • A cookie is a small data file placed on your hard drive by a Website so it can "remember" information about you or your computer.
    • A Website may assign you an ID and create a temporary cookie with that ID number on your computer.
    • The Website then can create a profile with your ID number on the Website's server.
    • In your profile, the Website can store information about your interests and other characteristics. For example, a site that carries news and weather might record your zip code so it can display local weather and news each time you visit the site. A credit card or bank site might use your profile to store your password, so that it has a way to recognize you and display your account information.
  • A cookie can be read and updated only by the Website that created it. One Website cannot "peek" at another Website's cookies.
A cookie is not... 
  • A cookie is not a program. It is a data file.
  • A cookie is not a spy device that can read files on your computer.
  • A cookie is not a way for a Website to secretly discover your personal information.
Cookies on your computer
  • To learn more about cookies on your computer and what you can do about them, consult your browser's help or tutorial feature.

 

Clear GIFs or "Web bugs"

 

A clear GIF is...
  • Another common way that web sites collect information about you is by using technology called clear GIF or "Web bug" (also referred to as a "1-by-1 GIF," "pixel tag," or "Web beacon").
  • A clear GIF is an invisible image that can be imbedded in a Web page or certain kinds of e-mail. ("GIF" stands for "graphical interface format," which is one of the technologies used to show pictures in a Web page.)
  • As with cookies, a Website can use clear GIFs to collect data about you.
  • Unlike cookies, clear GIFs are not stored on your computer.
  • Unlike cookies, most browsers do not have built-in features to explain or help you detect clear GIFs.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY

The SED does not solicit information from children under the age of thirteen. If the SED receives information submitted by children under the age of thirteen, those communications are accorded the same protections as if the information had been submitted offline.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 ("COPPA") imposes restrictions on commercial Websites, not government agency websites. Although COPPA does not apply to the SED Website, the SED practices are consistent with its mandates. If you would like more information about COPPA, please visit the FTC's official COPPA page at:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/coppa/

 

SED CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have questions about the SED Website privacy statement or this Website, please contact the SED by e-mailing the Information Security Officer at infosec@mail.nysed.gov

You can also write SED at:

Benny Thottam
Chief Information Officer
State Education Department - Room 573 EBA
Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12234

Last Updated: January 4, 2013