Lyon College Privacy Policy
1. COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY
Lyon College is committed to maintaining the privacy and security of any collected confidential or highly sensitive personal information provided to Lyon College through interaction with its technology systems and partners. This policy has been adopted to address the collection, use, and dissemination of personal information by Lyon College. This policy is subject to change over time, as the technologies utilized to provide services via the Internet continue to develop and evolve. Despite changes in technology, any alterations to this policy will not affect the College’s commitment to privacy. Lyon College commits to being transparent about the information it collects as well as the intended use of that information. This commitment to transparency enables you to maintain personal control over your private information and make informed decisions about your online interaction with Lyon College.
2. GENERAL STATEMENT
This policy applies to all information digitally collected by or submitted to Lyon College. Lyon College receives information via three primary methods:
- Information collected automatically via websites
- Information voluntarily provided by the user in order to receive information and/or services (via web forms and email).
- Information collected through technology-enabled communication platforms, which includes social media accounts operated by Lyon College or third parties on behalf of the college.
3. INFORMATION COLLECTION
3.1 AUTOMATIC COLLECTION
If a user has not taken specific steps to anonymize their personal web traffic (e.g. apply mechanisms such as the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on that disable the collection of data for analytical purposes), official Lyon College websites may collect certain information automatically. This information includes, but is not limited to:
- User’s Internet protocol (IP) address
- Internet service provider
- Operating system
- The time and date of the visit
- Browser
- The site from which the user visited
- Cookie information (if applicable) -
Any information collected automatically is not associated with any other information held by Lyon College (i.e. not linked with information voluntarily provided to Lyon College) unless Lyon College is required to do so by law.
3.2 VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION
In order to provide information and/or services, Lyon College may request users to provide personal data, some of which may be personally identifiable information. Information such as name, date of birth, email address, etc. can be collected via voluntary submission of an email or a web form to an Lyon College entity.
3.2 Server Logs and Email Tracking
Lyon College servers and websites generally log activity usage including, but not limited to:
- Hostname - The hostname and/or IP address of the user/client requesting access.
- HTTP header, "user-agent" - The user-agent information includes the type of browser, its version, and the operating system it is running on.
- HTTP header, "referrer" - The referrer specifies the page from which the client accessed the current page.
- System date - The date and time of the user/client request.
- Full request - The exact request the user/client made.
- Status - The status code the server returned to the user/client.
- UserID - or other authentication ID.
- Content length - The content length, in bytes, of the document sent to the user/client.
- Method - The request method used.
- Universal Resource Identifier (URI) - The location of a resource on the server.
- Query string of the URI - Anything after the question mark in a URI.
- Protocol - The transport protocol and version used.
- E-mail address - In some cases, the e-mail address of the intended recipient of an e-mail may be logged when a link is accessed inside of an e-mail.
4. STUDENT EDUCATION RECORDS
Lyon College complies strictly with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which generally prohibits the release of student educational records without student permission.
5. INFORMATION USE
Website information that is gathered automatically is utilized to improve the understanding of how Lyon College provided websites are being leveraged by the user community. Lyon College uses multiple data analytics technologies and information services, including Google Analytics (and Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting) and social media tools to analyze traffic to and engagement with our websites. Analytics data is also used for marketing, engagement, recruitment and development activities.
Any information submitted to Lyon College voluntarily in order to receive services and/or information will only be utilized to conduct official college business. Lyon College may disseminate voluntarily submitted information to third parties and offices/departments within Lyon College to the extent necessary in order to provide the requested services and/or information. Lyon College may also disseminate such information if required by applicable law-enforcement agencies.
Lyon College also works with third-party vendors who may use cookies, beacons or other technologies to serve ads or deliver content on other websites based on your visits and interactions with our websites. These third parties may automatically collect information about your visits to this and other websites, your IP address, your ISP, the browser you use, pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked, and anything you might share on a social media site including your profile, “likes,” “comments,” and conversion information.
Third-party vendors and services often have their own privacy policies and statements. Further, third-parties may provide mechanisms to manage their collection and use of your information. Lyon College is not responsible for these third parties, and we encourage you to check the privacy policies of advertisers and ad services.
Lyon College will not disclose any information submitted voluntarily for reasons other than mentioned above, without clear notice and the opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such uses. Lyon College will never sell or trade voluntarily submitted information to other entities unless a prior consent has been obtained and/or such information is being shared in response to a subpoena, court order, or legal process.
There is no legal requirement for a user to provide any information to Lyon College. However, without certain information, Lyon College websites and services may not function as intended and features may be inaccessible.
6. USE OF COOKIES
Lyon College may use your website visit analytics beyond cookies utilized by Google Analytics, which enable the college to tailor its web services to the needs of the user community. Cookie data assists the college in improving web/user content and distribution as well as track your personal interaction with Lyon College websites. Users have the right to refuse the use of cookies by implementing technical configurations in their web browsers; however, functionalities of certain sites may be impacted if such configurations are implemented.
7. EXTERNAL LINKS
Some Lyon College sites may contain links to external websites not owned by, or officially affiliated with, Lyon College in any way. If a user decides to navigate to external links, he/she will leave the Lyon College website and thus, the College is not responsible for privacy practices or the content of such websites. Navigating to external links is done at the user’s own risk and users should be aware that Lyon College’s policies no longer apply. Lyon College recommends that users review the privacy policy and applicable terms of all sites they visit.
8. DATA SECURITY
Lyon College implements stringent security measures wherever possible to promote confidentiality, integrity, and availability of any information in the possession of Lyon College. All Lyon College websites where users submit voluntary information utilize encryption to prevent third-parties from viewing the submitted data. Lyon does not recommend users submitting confidential and/or personal information via email as Lyon College cannot leverage encryption in most cases. Users that submit unsolicited confidential and/or personal information via email must do so at their own risk.
Security of user data is of the utmost importance to Lyon College, however due to the nature of Internet communications, data transmission over the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure. Any information transmitted to Lyon College by the user is done so at the user’s own risk. Lyon College will make every effort to ensure the security of data on Lyon College’s systems.
9. CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this privacy statement or if you would like to report an issue or complaint, you may visit privacy@lyon.edu for more.