MadSci's Privacy Policy

MadSci Network is a not-for-profit organization devoted to encouraging an interest in science, and promoting science literacy at both a K-12 level, and in the general population. When visiting our site, we record and track information about the materials you access. We do not sell or share your information with any third parties, nor make it publically available, unless you choose to enter specific information on our ask-a-question form.

When visiting our site, the following information is passed to our webserver and stored in our site's logs:

The Internet address, or IP# of your machine's Internet connection. Examples include proxy-49.aol.com or 123.243.45.168.
The time and date at which you accessed the information.
The page or materials you are accessing.
The referring link you followed to get to the current page.
The type of browser and computer operating system that you use.
Any errors generated due to broken links or potential software errors.

We use this information in the following manner:

Generate monthly statistics concerning traffic and usage of materials on our site.
Identify mistakes in files or trouble-shoot errors.
Identify high-usage materials that may be developed further to provide additional, useful information.
Assist with the recruitment of scientists and moderators to review and answer questions in high volume categories.
Make certain our materials and interfaces are accessible to the platforms and browsers used by visitors.
In addition, we may opt to supply this information to a user's identified Internet Service Provider concerning any user who blantantly abuses or attempts to interfere with the functioning of our site.

The reports generated are available from our Monthly Statistics page. This information may also be used in proposals to obtain funding for the MadSci Network, so that we may keep it a free service.

Asking Questions

For individuals asking questions, we may record the following information:

A subject line and area of science must be entered on the form. These components are stored with additional material that you may enter.
The following information is optional, and not required to ask a question:
- Your name
- Email address
- School or affiliated institution.
- Location
- Grade, or educational level.
If included, all components except the email address may be made available in questions posted to the public area of our website. Again, if you do not wish this information to be publically accessible, we recommend that you not fill in these areas.

We store this information in our monthly log files and use it for the following:

Track the submission of questions in individual subjects. This information helps us determine when we need to recruit additional scientists to field questions, or whether specific subjects should be added or removed from our existing list.
Generate information concerning the grade-level of students and others who access our site.
Identify commonly asked questions, and create Frequently-Asked-Question files (FAQs) to address them.
We will also use this information to trouble-shoot errors or problems in our interfaces.
In addition, we may opt to supply this information to a user's identified Internet Service Provider concerning any user who abuses our interfaces or who submits materials that are rude, obnoxious, that contain expletives, or threats of any sort.

More information about Internet Privacy can be found at the US Federal Trade Commission.

If you have further questions concerning this policy, please contact us at webadmin@www.madsci.org. Our snail mail address is:

	  MadSci Network
          P.O. Box 548
	  Boston, MA 02117

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