Last Updated: June 19, 2020
The University of Southern California (“USC”) is committed to delivering information services that recognize and respect users’ privacy concerns. This Privacy Notice is intended to inform you of our general policies and practices regarding our collection, use, and disclosure of the information that you submit to us and that we collect from you during your use of this website.
By accessing or using this website, you acknowledge you have read, understood, and agree to our collection, storage, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Personal information is any kind of information that allows us to identify you, directly or indirectly, such as your name, contact details, or address. We may collect and process the following personal information about you:
We also collect, use, and share deidentified information such as statistical or demographic data, which we may use for any purpose. This information could be derived from your personal information but will not reveal your identity directly or indirectly. For example, we may aggregate your usage information to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Site feature. However, if we combine or connect information with your personal information so that it can identify you directly or indirectly, we will treat the combined information as personal information, which will be used only as allowed by this Policy.
We collect personal information from you via the following:
We may automatically collect certain information about the devices you use to access the Site, as well as information on how you interact with the Site, through web server logs as well as cookies and other similar tracking technologies. Information gathered through cookies and web server logs may include information such as the date and time of visits to the Site, the pages viewed, time spent at the Site, and the websites visited just before and just after the Site.
We may collect information about your use of the Site through cookies and other similar tracking technologies. “Cookies” are a feature of web browser software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a website. They are small text files that are stored by a user’s web browser on the user’s hard drive. Cookies can help identify what information a user accesses on one website to simplify subsequent interactions with that site by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user’s transactions on related websites. A number of cookies we use last only for the duration of your web session and expire when you close your browser. Other cookies last longer and are used to recognize your computer when you return to the Site.
We use cookies to manage your login session, help you move between screens in the Site in a smooth and secure manner, and to gather information about the browsing activities of users of the Site in order to continually improve it and better serve the needs of its users.
You can change your browser settings to notify you of the cookies being set or updated, and to block cookies. Please note that if you have turned off all cookies, some features of the Site may not be available to you or otherwise function as intended.
We also may include tracking pixels and web beacons in email messages, newsletters, and other electronic communication. They help us to determine whether a message has been opened and to analyze and personalize our interactions with you. Instructions on how to unsubscribe are included in each email.
We may use the following categories of cookies on the Site:
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies. You can, however, change your browser to prevent this or to notify you each time a cookie is set. To learn more about how to manage cookies on different types of browsers, you can visit the website www.allaboutcookies.org.
We do not currently use technology that recognizes “do not track” signals from your web browser.
We will use your personal information only when doing so is consistent with applicable law and only for the following purposes:
o May include personalization, discounts, and other incentives;
We take precautions to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and security of your personal information, including the adoption of certain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards and procedures designed to maintain and secure your personal information from inappropriate disclosure in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. However, no security measures are perfect, and we cannot assure you that personal information that we collect will never be accessed or used in in an unauthorized way. We restrict access to personal information to those employees and agents of USC who need to know that information in order to provide USC’s services. We may disclose such information to our service providers (including financial, technical, marketing, and professional service providers and consultants). We require such third-party service providers to protect the confidentiality of your personal information and to use the information only for purposes for which it is disclosed to them.
We do not sell personal information. USC may disclose personal information where it may be required or permitted by law, rule, or regulation. We may also disclose personal information to the following parties:
Your Information may be retained by USC or Service Providers in accordance with the applicable retention periods in the University’s Record Management Policy and Appendix, available at https://policy.usc.edu/record-management/. The manner of destruction shall be appropriate to preserve and ensure the confidentiality of your Personal Information given the level of sensitivity, value, and criticality to the University.
While the majority of our services are not intended for users under the age of 16, there may be instances where Personal Information is provided to us with consent, only through a Parent or Legal Guardian. We do not accept Personal Information from anyone directly under the age of 16. We also do not knowingly collect Personal Information for children under the age of 13. In the event that we have inadvertently collected Personal Information for children under the age of 13, we will remove their information as soon as possible.
If you are located in the EU or EEA, then our processing of your personal data may be subject to the General Data Protection Regulation, or the “GDPR”. GDPR is a data privacy law that applies to personal data collected in or from the EU or EEA.
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically, without prior notice, so please review it frequently. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post the updated Privacy Policy in the Site, so that you are aware of the kinds of personal information we collect, use, share, and otherwise process. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you on this website, in our Site, update the effective date above, and provide you with notice as required by applicable law.
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at compliance@usc.edu.