The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, passed by Congress in
October 1998, requires the Federal Trade Commission to issue and
enforce children's online privacy protection rules. Whether or not
they actually are enforcing these rules is another matter.
But, since we strongly agree that online privacy and children's safety are
laudable goals, we've outlined our privacy policy that applies to all
content on the Professor Astronomy website.
To jump to the information specific to the privacy of children under
age 13, click here.
I apologize that most of the following is quite dull.
Collection of Personal Information
Professor-astronomy.com collects the following forms of personal
information:
Email addresses and any personal information revealed in emails
sent by the reader to any email address using the
professor-astronomy.com domain name,
Information automatically collected by our web server, including
the IP addresses of all computers accessing our web page, the
operating system of viewer's computer (e.g. Windows XP or Mac OSX), the type of
web browser used to access the site (e.g. Netscape, Internet Explorer,
etc.), the dates and times that pages are accessed, and the web site
from which the viewer came. This information is NOT combined with any
other personal information collected on the site.
Professor-astronomy.com does NOT place cookies (though we like to
eat cookies, especially
fresh-baked Toll
House cookies). However, the blog is hosted
by Blogger.com, and they may well
place cookies. To learn about cookies and, should you desire, how to
keep cookies off of your computer,
read the Aboutcookies.org website.
Use of Personal Information
Contact information from emails sent to professor-astronomy.com may be
used for any necessary correspondence between the operators of
professor-astronomy.com and the submitter. This information is not
stored once correspondence is complete, and it is not passed on to
any third party.
On occasion, the operators of professor-astronomy.com may desire
to identify a reader in the blog or on the website. In such a
case, written/email permission will be requested by the administrators
from the individual, and no information will be released without the
express permission of the individual.
The automatically-collected information on the operating system,
browser, IP address, etc. of the viewer may be used by the web server
administrators to determine website usage, means of
improving our web service, and other computer system administration.
This information is also collected by
Google Analytics. This
information is used for analysis that is useful in determining our
readership demographics (such as readership trends, number of
repeat visitors, from what webpages and internet searches people
arrive, etc.) for the sole purpose of improving our services.
We don't use the service to try and identify visitors.
Since some data are collected by Google for us, you may want to
read their
privacy policy.
Release of Personal Information to Third Parties
Beyond the demographics data collected by Google Analytics, we don't
release any personal information to any third party, with the
following exceptions:
Any identifying information a user places in the public comments on the
blog is, by definition, public. If you don't want people to know
it, don't write it.
If we feel it would be useful, we may mention the names of
individuals who have contacted us. But we will not do so without
the permission of the individual.
If a governmental or law-enforcement agency serves us a warrant or
subpoena requiring us to hand over personal information, we will
comply. We will not hand over personal information without a
warrant or subpoena.
No
personal information whatsoever on children age 13 and under will ever
be released to a third party nor displayed on the website
(with the possible exception of a valid warrant or subpoena). No
way, no how.
Specific Information On Children's Privacy
In addition to the above information, the following information applies to
children under the age of 13:
Parents of children under the age of 13 have the following rights:
To review all personal information collected by
professor-astronomy.com
To have all personal information on their child deleted.
To refuse to allow further collection or use of a child's
information
If you wish to exercise any of the above rights, please contact
us via email, telephone or written correspondence. Contact information
is at the end of this privacy notice. Requests to view all personal
information collected on a child under 13 must be submitted in writing
to the address below.
Parental consent is not required for one-time requests for
information, such as a child submitting a question to "Ask Professor
Astronomy," we do request that children under age 13 obtain parental
permission to submit questions. We do not verify that parental consent
has been obtained. We delete all personal information once any responses
have been delivered.
With the exception of valid warrants and subpoenas, under no
circumstances will identifying information about a child under 13
be published on the professor-astronomy.com website, published in the
blog, or be given to any third party.
Any questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy? Our
contact information is below.
Sincerely,
The "Professor Astronomy" Administration
The contact information for this website is presented as an image
below (it keeps email marketers from getting our personal
information). If you cannot see the image, please contact us at:
admin at professor-astronomy.com
General Disclaimer
See something on this website that makes you livid? Before calling
your lawyer, please read the following (and consider that, if you
sue us for all we're worth, our net worth is negative):
Content validity and accuracy:
The point of this website is to spread accurate information. When
we post factual material, we believe it to be correct. But,
as we learn about the Universe, things change. So today's fact may
be tomorrow's fallacy. And, sometimes we're wrong -- keep that in
mind before using our content in homework, reports, essays, news
stories, lawsuits, presidential campaigns, etc. In other words, be
a good scientist and a good citizen, and double-check anything we
say.
External Links: When we link to an external site, we
believe that it has useful information or commentary on issues we're
discussing, and we try to ensure that any external sites we link to
are appropriate for any age group. But we don't control those
external websites. Sometimes they change their content. Sometimes
they get sold. Sometimes we didn't see the bad word in paragraph
four. Sometimes what seems like a reasonable person decides to post
a misogynistic rant after we put the link. Sometimes our fat
fingers slip and type in the wrong URL, and the links end up broken
or going to the wrong place. When you go to click on a
link, you are taking responsibility for what is there.
Photographs and Graphics: Sometimes we post images and
graphics in order to enhance our content. Any copyrighted images
that we post are done so under a claim of "fair use." We try to
identify the copyright holder on any copyrighted images, but
sometimes we unintentionally misidentify the person, and sometimes
we're sloppy and forget. If you are the copyright holder of any
content we use on our site, and you feel that either we are not
giving proper credit or that we are going beyond fair usage of your
material, contact us, and we'll look into it in a timely fashion.
Note that just because we store an image on our own server doesn't
mean we are making any claim on copyright. Note: We were
often sloppy in identifying sources for material prior to the summer
of 2008, for which we apologize. Again, if you see material that is
not properly credited, let us know and we will look into it in a
timely fashion.
These are our opinions. The content of this website,
especially the blog, often contains our own personal opinions. The
material is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club,
organization, company, individual, anyone, or anything. This
doesn't mean that we won't challenge somebody's opinions or point
out where we feel other people are wrong, but we never intend any
harm or injury to any other person. We strongly believe in
the worth of every individual.
Further, as stated at the bottom of every page, we, the authors,
are responsible for all material presented here. The material does
not necessarily represent the views of the National Science
Foundation, the University of Texas (or any institution of higher
learning, for that matter), our web hosting company, our families,
our pets, or even our current political leadership. This holds true
even if we write about any such institution or people.
Copyright: All material on these pages should be considered
under copyright; sometimes we claim copyright, sometimes others own
the copyright. You may use any material for which we own the
copyright as long as you agree to the
the
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 license.
Language and Access Issues: We take care to try and use
proper American English style, spellings, and grammar. Sometimes we
make mistakes (spelling, in particular, was never a strong subject
of ours), and, in rare cases, these mistakes can alter the meaning
of a phrase. No harm is intended from such mistakes.
We do not make sure that our text translates properly into other
languages; we are not responsible if your favorite (or least
favorite) text translator turns perfectly good text into gibberish
or foul and abusive language.
Cultural Issues: This web site and its blog are developed
and maintained under guidance of the laws of the United States of
America. Different countries have may have different laws regarding
the content presented here. We are not responsible for material or
statements that run afoul of laws in countries outside of the United
States
Whew! I think that about covers it. Questions or concerns? Contact
us at:
Disclaimer for Blog Comments
Because we value your thoughtful opinions, we encourage you to add a
comment to this discussion. Don't be offended if we edit your comments
for clarity or to keep out questionable matters, however, and we may
even delete off-topic comments.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-0602288. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
