GITAM VDC Privacy Policy - Effective date 1st July 2022 through 30th June 2023

GITAM VDC Privacy Policy

This policy explains what information we collect when you use GITAM VDC’s sites, services, mobile applications, products, and content (“Services”). It also has information about how we store, use, transfer, and delete that information. Our aim is not just to comply with privacy law. It’s to earn your trust.

Information We Collect & How We Use It

GITAM VDC doesn’t make money from ads. So we don’t collect data in order to advertise to you. The tracking we do at GITAM VDC is to make our product work as well as possible. This includes basic product functions like personalizing what posts you see based on what we think you’ll like. So, to give you the best possible experience in using GITAM VDC, we collect information from your interactions with our Services. Some of this information, you actively tell us (such as your email address, which we use to track your account or communicate with you). Other information, we collect based on actions you take while using GITAM VDC, such as what pages you view (including how much of a given page and for how long) and your use of product features. This information includes records of those interactions, your Internet Protocol address, information about your device (such as device or browser type), and referral information (how you got to a particular page).

We use this information to:
• Provide, test, improve, promote and personalize the Services
• Fight spam and other forms of abuse
• Generate aggregate, non-identifying information about how people use the Services

When you create your GITAM VDC account, and authenticate with a third-party service (like Twitter, Facebook, Apple or Google) we may collect, store, and periodically update information associated with that third-party account, such as your lists of friends or followers. We will never publish something through one of your third-party accounts without your express permission.

Information Disclosure

GITAM VDC won’t transfer information about you to third parties for the purpose of providing or facilitating third-party advertising to you. We won’t sell information about you to a third-party.

We may transfer your account information with third parties in some circumstances, including: (1) with your consent; (2) to a service provider or partner who meets our data protection standards; (3) with academic or non-profit researchers, with aggregation, anonymization, or pseudonymization; (4) when we have a good faith belief it is required by law, such as pursuant to a subpoena or other legal process; (5) when we have a good faith belief that doing so will help prevent imminent harm to someone.

If we are going to share your information in response to a legal process, we’ll give you notice so you can challenge it (for example by seeking court intervention), unless we’re prohibited by law or believe doing so may endanger others or cause illegal conduct. We will object to legal requests for information about users of our services that we believe are improper.

Public Data

Search engines may index your GITAM VDC user profile page, public interactions, and post pages, such that people may find these pages when searching against your name on services like Google, DuckDuckGo, or Bing. Users may also share links to your content on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.

Data Storage

GITAM VDC uses third-party vendors and hosting partners, such as Amazon, for hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology we need to run GITAM VDC. We maintain two types of logs: server logs and event logs. By using the Services, you authorize GITAM VDC to transfer, store, and use your information in India and any other country where we operate.

Third-Party Embeds

Some of the content that you see displayed on GITAM VDC is not hosted by GITAM VDC. These “embeds” are hosted by a third-party and embedded in a GITAM VDC page, so that it appears to be part of that page. For example: YouTube or Vimeo videos, Imgur or Giphy gifs, SoundCloud audio files, Twitter tweets, GitHub code snippets, or Scribd documents that appear within a GITAM VDC post. These files send data to the hosted site just as if you were visiting that site directly (for example, when you load a GITAM VDC post page with a YouTube video embedded in it, that video appears because of a pointer to files hosted by YouTube, and in turn YouTube receives data about your activity, such as your IP address and how much of the video you watch).

GITAM VDC doesn’t control what data third parties collect in cases like this, or what they ultimately do with it. So, third-party embeds on GITAM VDC are not covered by this Privacy Policy. They are covered by the privacy policy of the third-party service (so, when you watch a YouTube video embedded in a GITAM VDC post, the use of data about your interactions with the video would be covered by YouTube’s privacy policy).

Some embeds may ask you for personal information, such as submitting your email address, through a form linked to from a GITAM VDC post. We do our best to keep bad actors off of GITAM VDC. However, if you choose to submit your information to a third party this way, we don’t know what they may do with it. As explained above, their actions are not covered by this Privacy Policy. So, please be careful when you see embedded forms on GITAM VDC asking for your email address or any other personal information. Make sure you understand who you are submitting your information to and what they say they plan to do with it. We suggest that you do not submit your email address or other personal information to any third-party through an embedded form.

When posting on GITAM VDC, you may not embed a form that allows submission of personal information by users. You must link offsite to a page that allows such submissions by users, and that page’s appearance must be distinct enough from GITAM VDC to ensure it does not cause confusion among users over to whom they are submitting personal information. Failure to do so may lead GITAM VDC to disable the post or take other action to limit or disable your account.

Tracking & Cookies

We use browser cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you return to our Services. We use them in various ways, for example to log you in, remember your preferences (such as default language), evaluate email effectiveness, and personalize content and other services. Without cookies, some of our services may not work, so they are necessary to GITAM VDC’s basic functionality.

We track your interactions within the GITAM VDC’s Services (which encompasses vdc.gitam.edu,, custom domains hosted by gitam.edu, and your interactions with our mobile application).

Some third-party services that we use to provide the Service, such as Google Analytics, may place their own cookies in your browser. This Privacy Policy covers use of cookies by GITAM VDC only and not the use of cookies by third parties.

Modifying or Deleting Your Personal Information

To protect information from accidental or malicious destruction, we may maintain residual copies for a brief time period (generally several weeks). But, if you delete your account, your information and content will be unrecoverable after that time. GITAM VDC may preserve and maintain copies of your information beyond this time period when required to do so by law.

Data Security

We use encryption (HTTPS/TLS) to protect data transmitted to and from our site. However, no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, so we can’t guarantee security. You use the GITAM VDC at your own risk, and you’re responsible for taking reasonable measures to secure your account.

Business Transfers

If we’re involved in a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, reorganization or sale of assets such that your information would be transferred or become subject to a different privacy policy, we’ll notify you in advance so you can opt out of any such new policy by deleting your account before transfer.

Email from GITAM VDC

Sometimes we’ll send you emails about your account, service changes or new policies. You can’t opt out of this type of “transactional” email (unless you delete your account).

When you interact with an email sent from GITAM VDC (such as opening an email or clicking on a particular link in an email), we may receive information about that interaction

We won’t email you to ask for your password or other account information. If you receive such an email, please forward it to us at contact_vdc@gitam.edu so we can investigate.

Changes to this Policy

GITAM VDC may periodically update this Policy. We’ll notify you about significant changes to it.

Questions

We welcome feedback about this policy at contact_vdc@gitam.edu