Effective Date: January 2013

Cal State Online is a system-level component of the California State University and is committed to protecting your privacy. Cal State Online has adopted the following privacy policy for the information collected at this website.

By visiting the Cal State Online website or submitting your personal data, you accept the terms described in this privacy policy. From time to time, we may modify this policy. We will notify you of any significant change by posting a notice on our home page and information collection forms. Your continued use of the Cal State Online website after any modification indicates your agreement to the new terms.

WHAT THIS PRIVACY POLICY STATEMENT COVERS

  • Cal State Online privacy policy and its exceptions
  • The personal identifying information we collect
  • Reasons we collect personal identifying information
  • Minimum age of 13 required to establish a request for information form
  • Ways in which personal identifying information may be used
  • With whom personal identifying information may be shared
  • Security measures to protect information entrusted to Cal State Online
  • Cookies
  • Links
  • Modifying and deleting your information
  • Information Practices Act
  • Public Records Act
  • Amending this Privacy Policy
  • Limitation of Liability
  • Questions

CAL STATE ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY AND ITS EXCEPTIONS

Except as set forth below, personally identifiable data you enter on the Cal State Online website is not made available or distributed to third parties, except with your express consent or at your express direction. In particular, Cal State Online will not give, sell or provide access to your personal information to any company, individual or organization for its use in marketing or commercial solicitation or for any other purpose, except with your express consent, at your direction, as is necessary for the operation of this site, or pursuant to one of the exceptions listed below.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

There are limited exceptions to the Cal State Online privacy policy. When required by law to comply with any valid legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, regulation or court order, Cal State Online will supply such information contained in your request for information as Cal State Online reasonably determines, based on the advice of counsel, it is legally required to supply. In addition, Cal State Online may release specific information relevant to special cases, such as a physical threat to you or others or an attempted breach of security on the Cal State Online website.

THE PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Cal State Online collects personal identifying information from you including, but not limited to, your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, and such additional information as you choose to include in your request for information. Cal State Online also collects anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to you, such as your ZIP code, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites. The information is maintained in accordance with California Government Code § 11015.5.

REASONS WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION

Cal State Online collects personal information from you primarily for three reasons. The first reason is to perform a task on the Cal State Online website, such as to provide degree program information, requested by you. The second reason is to enable you to submit in a convenient and efficient manner information that is likely to be needed when you complete the application for college admission via CSU Mentor. The third reason is to enable Cal State Online to respond to your questions or contact you when necessary in connection with the functioning of Cal State Online. When the effective functioning of a Cal State Online module does not require personal information, none is collected, and any such module can be accessed without providing any personal data.

When you log on to the Cal State Online website, your browser will automatically transmit to Cal State Online's server the IP address of your computer and type of browser you are using. This information may also include your domain names, access times and referring website addresses. This information may be used by Cal State Online for the operation of this website, to maintain quality of this website, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the Cal State Online website.

MINIMUM AGE OF 13 REQUIRED TO ESTABLISH A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FORM

Cal State Online will not collect any information from persons who are not yet 13 years old. If you are under 13 years of age, you are not authorized to fill out or submit a request for information form on Cal State Online, but you can utilize those portions of Cal State Online that do not involve the collection of personal information from users. It is possible that by fraud or deception we may receive information given to us or pertaining to children under 13. If we are notified of this, as soon as we verify the information, we will immediately delete the information from our servers.

WAYS IN WHICH PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION MAY BE USED

We will not sell, rent, or lease your personal Information to others except as provided in this policy. Cal State Online will use your personal identifying information in the following ways:

  • Communicate your requests for information or material to CSU campuses you have specified
  • to provide requested services
  • to respond to your inquiries and provide customer support
  • for our internal marketing purposes, which includes, but is not limited to, sending you material about services, updates, etc. that we think may be of interest to you
  • to analyze how this website and services are being accessed and used
  • to analyze preferences for Cal State Online programs.

Your personal identifying information may also be used for the following purposes:

  • We may use your identifying information to help diagnose problems with Cal State Online's server and to administer the Cal State Online website.
  • Summary data representing a compilation of aggregate data representing Cal State Online users may be collected by Cal State Online and provided to participating CSU Campus personnel. NO PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION IS MADE AVAILABLE AS PART OF THESE SUMMARY REPORTS.

WITH WHOM PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION MAY BE SHARED

Any time you request that we perform a task that involves a transfer of data, the data related to the performance of that task will be made available to a recipient you designate or to a service provider assisting us in completing that task. For example:

  • If you request that a CSU Campus send you material, your contact information will be provided to that institution.
  • If you submit a request for information form on Cal State Online, a Cal State Online service provider will contact you and pass your information to a CSU Campus that may offer an education program of interest to you.

SECURITY MEASURES TO PREVENT MISUSE OF INFORMATION ENTRUSTED TO CAL STATE ONLINE

Cal State Online causes the data you input to be encrypted when in route between your browser and the Cal State Online server and when in route between the Cal State Online server and some other browser or server. This practice helps prevent unauthorized third parties from intercepting and gaining access to your private data during transmission over the Internet. Cal State Online uses 128-bit, Secure Socket Layer encryption issued and certified by Verisign or COMODO.

Personal data residing on the Cal State Online server is protected, and access is provided only to employees of Cal State Online and its service provider who require such access to administer and maintain the Cal State Online website and to provide requested support to users of Cal State Online.

COOKIES

A cookie is a small file that a website transfers to a user's computer, which may then be stored on its hard drive. Cal State Online uses cookies to remember you and personalize your web-viewing experience by keeping track of your session when logged on to Cal State Online. Cookies enable you to maintain continuity as you move from page to page on Cal State Online and to avoid the nuisance of being asked to provide the same information repeatedly. Cookies also allow us to make sure that only your browser can exchange information regarding your personal information with our servers. Cookies cannot be used to steal personal information or to gain access to information that you did not directly provide. The cookies we use are set when you log on to Cal State Online and are erased when you log off Cal State Online or completely close your browser.

Don't want cookies?

Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you don't want cookies, you can set your browser to disable or refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being used. You should note, however, that various Cal State Online services might not function properly when cookies are not utilized.

LINKS

Cal State Online hosts links to other sites or resources, and you may link to one of those sites or resources for a variety of purposes, such as visiting an official college website. These sites and resources have privacy policies that may differ from that of Cal State Online, and for your protection, we recommend that you read and understand the privacy policy at any website prior to providing personal information on that website. Cal State Online is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any websites to which Cal State Online links or for the conduct of persons operating those websites. Cal State Online, CSU or its campuses do not have control over, and do not endorse such external sites and resources. Cal State Online, CSU and its campuses shall not be liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. In addition, Cal State Online, CSU and its campuses shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, advertising, products or materials on or available through any such site or resource.

MODIFYING AND DELETING YOUR INFORMATION

You may update, otherwise modify or delete from the data stored on Cal State Online any personal information you previously provided. To delete or modify your personal information that is a required field to be completed in your request for information, you will need to contact Cal State Online’s service provider at 1 (562) 951-4615 and request that your personal information be deleted or modified. Please recognize that if you delete information, it will no longer be available on Cal State Online so that, for example, if a participating CSU campus to which you previously submitted a request for information via Cal State Online were to attempt to retrieve your request form from Cal State Online after you requested the information be deleted, the information would no longer be accessible.

INFORMATION PRACTICES ACT

Any information acquired by Cal State Online is subject to the limitations set forth in the Information Practices Act of 1977, Cal. Civil Code sections 1798 et seq. The Cal State Online official responsible for records requests under the Information Practices Act is the Director Program and System Operations, 401 Golden Shore Drive, Long Beach, CA 90802, email: flattomus@calstate.edu.

PUBLIC RECORDS ACT

In the State of California, laws exist to ensure that government is open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by state government. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public's right to access public records. These exceptions serve various needs, including maintaining the privacy of individuals. Both state and federal laws provide exceptions. All information collected at this site becomes public record that may be subject to inspection and copying by the public, unless an exemption in law exists. In the event of a conflict between this Privacy Policy and the California Public Records Act (Ca. Govt. Code sections 6250 et seq.), the Information Practices Act or other law governing the disclosure of records, the Public Records Act, the Information Practices Act or other applicable law will control.

AMENDING THIS PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time. Unless legal obligations require faster implementation, if any substantial changes are made to this privacy policy concerning use of your personal information, we will notify you by posting a message on the Cal State Online homepage for at least thirty days. You may object to any new terms by requesting that your personal information be deleted as described above. Otherwise, continued use of the website will be deemed acceptance of any new terms. Thereafter, the new privacy policy will apply to all data previously submitted or subsequently submitted to Cal State Online, unless such use is prohibited by applicable law.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

Cal State Online attempts to maintain the highest accuracy of content on its website. Any errors or omissions should be reported for investigation.

Cal State Online makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the absolute accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the contents of this website and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this website. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed or statutory, including, but not limited to, the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose, is given with respect to the contents of this website or its hyperlinks to other internet resources.

QUESTIONS

If you have any questions about this privacy policy and the privacy practices on this website, you may contact us at flattomus@calstate.edu