Go to your question directly:

What information is being collected?
How is the information collected used?
Is my information secure?
Can I change my information or opt out of mailings?
How do I contact the webmaster?
Will this policy change?
What information is being collected?

The only personal information collected is information you give us: our site offers multiple opportunities for you to sign up for email alerts, volunteer, and donate online. We do not collect or maintain any personal information unless you provide us with your name, address, city, state, zip, and email address.

How we use log files to better serve you: We use log files to assess the aggregate level of traffic to our site including what pages people are visiting, and to diagnose any potential problems with the Web site. This log file does contain an Internet Protocol or IP address that gives us insight on the general geographic area that visitors are coming from but not information on a specific individual. We do not use log files to track a particular individual's use of the site.

Information collected when you donate: When you make a contribution, we obtain the following information: name, mailing address, employer, occupation, and amount of contribution. State law requires us to report this information to the Florida Department of Elections. Contributions from corporations, government contractors, foreign nationals without a "green card," and minors (individuals under the age of 18) are prohibited. Any credit card information provided is only used to immediately process your donation. We do not retain your credit card information once the donation is processed.

We do not retain information when you forward a message: Our site contains numerous opportunities for a visitor to forward documents, photos, and messages to friends and family. This information is only used to forward that visitor's message and is not retained or used for any other purpose.

We ask that children under 18 do not submit their information. In accordance with the Federal Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) we do not knowingly collect information from children. You must be at least 18 years old to sign up for email news, become a volunteer online, or make an online credit card contribution. We encourage parents to participate actively in their children's Internet experience.

How is the information collected on this site used?

We personalize the Web site and email communications. When you offer your personal information and/or choose to participate in our volunteer efforts we use your information to personalize and customize Web pages and emails to you, we also use the information to credit individuals for their actions.

We will not sell your personal information. Under no circumstances will we sell your information to third parties or any commercial entities.

Is my information secure?

Protecting information you provide via our web site. We make every effort to protect your information from the moment you begin to enter your information to when it is stored on our secure servers. We use a secure socket layer (SSL)  with the highest level of encryption commercially available  on pages where Web site visitors make a secure online donation using their credit card.

Strict security measures are in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of any and all information pertaining to the site. In addition, our site is run on servers located in a secure server room and locked in a rack. Staff is onsite 24 hours a day, monitoring equipment and services.

Use of cookies and protecting your privacy: We may make use of cookies to personalize and customize your interaction with our site and to provide you with the best possible online experience. A cookie is a tiny text file that is placed on your hard drive when you voluntarily register with us. These text files do not contain any personal information and can not be used by our organization or anyone else to obtain any information that you do not voluntarily provide.

For Microsoft Internet Explorer, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.htm

For Netscape Navigator, please visit: http://home.netscape.com/security/basics/privacy.html#cookies

We may link to other sites: Our site may contain links to other Web sites and servers. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of linked Web sites; nor should a link from us be construed as an endorsement of that site's content, services or practices.

How do I contact the webmaster?

Contact information: If you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact us by sending an email to info@lawyersaction.com.

Will this privacy policy change?

We reserve the right to revise or update this privacy policy at any time. While we do not intend to make any changes to this policy we do reserve the right to do so. If any changes to this privacy policy are made the date that the revised or updated policy is posted to Shimkus.org will appear at the bottom of the page.

(Posted February 15, 2005)