[Before you send us an email, read this.]
Buzzards Bay NEP Website Privacy Policy
Welcome to the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program’s website. This page summarizes the Buzzards Bay NEP’s privacy policies as they relate to our website. We also recommend that you read the “disclaimer page” that appears on this web site. We do not provide any warranty or knowledge as to the privacy policy of, or the use of personal information gathered at a website that you may visit through a link appearing on our website.
A Privacy Relationship. Your privacy, with respect to the use of this web site, is defined by the relationship between the BBP and you, the user. At this web site, we attempt to protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible. However, because the Buzzards Bay NEP is a sub-agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, any information that we receive through this web site, including any emails you choose to send to us, is subject to the Public Records Law, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66, Section 10 and Chapter 4, Section 7(26). Consequently, we cannot ensure absolute privacy of any information emailed to our office. Thus, information that you provide to us through this site may be made available to members of the public under that law.
This privacy policy page informs you of the information that we collect from you at this site, what we do with it, to whom it may be disseminated, and how you can access it. Based on this information, you can make an informed choice about your use of this site. You can maximize the benefits of using this web site by making informed choices about whether to share personally identifiable information with us through this site.
Personally Identifiable Information. We use the term “personally identifiable information” to mean any information that could reasonably be used to identify you, including your name, mailing address, e-mail address, or similar information that could be reasonably used to identify you.
Information Voluntarily Provided by You. This site collects voluntary information from you only through the e-mails that you send through this site. E-mails and/or forms sent by you to this site will contain personally identifiable information.
Information Collected and Stored by this Site. This site or WordPress plugins may use cookies, and our web host may collect and report to us your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, which does not identify you as an individual, but may include information about the date and time of your visit, whether a file you have requested exists, and how many “bytes” of information were transmitted to you over the Web from this site. We use IP addresses and this data to assess the frequency of visits to this site and the popularity of its various pages and functions. We do not attempt to match any personally identifiable information that you provide to us with your IP address.
If a complaint or inquiry is submitted by email to the Buzzards Bay NEP which may require action by the Commonwealth, any information that you voluntarily email to the Buzzards Bay NEP will be disclosed to those Commonwealth employees or officials with a “need to know” for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. These individuals will only use the information to answer your questions, respond to any requests for assistance, and fulfill the Commonwealth’s legal obligations. Where appropriate or required, we may provide the information submitted by you to the person or company that is the subject of your inquiry, or to a government agency responsible for the matters referred to in your communication.
Your Access and Opportunity to Correct. The Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act provide you certain rights to get information about you that is in our records. To learn more about the circumstances under which you can get and correct this information, please click on the above references to these laws.
Security – Because information sent to us is not encrypted, you should not send messages containing information that you consider highly sensitive to this website. We use standard security measures to ensure that information provided by you, including your personally identifiable information, is not lost, misused, altered, or unintentionally destroyed. We also use software to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.
Policy changes. We will post changes to this policy at least 30 days before they take effect. Any information we collect under the current privacy policy will remain subject to the terms of this policy, consistent with the Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act. After any changes take effect, all new information we collect, if any, will be subject to the new policy.
Usage Data and Known Persistent Cookies
The Buzzards Bay NEP Website uses (or may use) the following tools (each a “Tool” and collectively, the “Tools”):
Tool Name: Google Analytics™
Purpose: Collect information about use of the Mass.Gov Portal
Data Collected: Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit the Mass.Gov Portal, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the Mass.Gov Portal.
Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
Terms of Use: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/us/
Express Opt Out: N/A
Special Notes: N/A
Tool Name: Facebook™ “Like” widget
Purpose: Allows user to “Like” a web page and also displays whether user has already “Liked” the web page.
Data Collected: The Facebook widget uses Facebook’s persistent cookie(s) to determine whether you have “Liked” a page. Facebook accesses this cookie on every page where the Facebook “Like” widget is displayed. This could allow Facebook to determine which websites you have visited.
Privacy Policy: http://www.facebook.com/help/186325668085084/ and http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/
Terms of Use: http://www.facebook.com/policies/
Express Opt Out: You are not required to log in to your Facebook account (if you have one) to use the Mass.Gov Portal.
Additional General Information Related to Tools
We use the information we get from the Tools only to improve the Offerings. The Tools may also collect data such as browser information, operating system, and page views through the implementation of session cookies or persistent cookies. Except as set forth in this privacy policy (e.g., possibly in response to a public records request), we do not combine the information collected through the use of any Tool with personally identifiable information. Although each of the Tools plants a persistent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit the Mass.Gov Portal, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Mass.gov and/or the software publisher of the respective Tool (the “Software Publisher”). The Software Publisher’s ability to use and share information collected by the Software Publisher about your visits to the Mass.Gov Portal is restricted by the Software Publisher’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, links to which have been provided above. You may prevent the Tools from using persistent cookies by disabling cookies on your browser. Some of the Tools permit you to opt-out of the Tool by allowing that Tool to plant a persistent cookie on your web browser indicating that you have opted out. If you disable cookies on your browser or use a different browser, different computer, different user account, etc., you will need to opt-out again. If you allow persistent cookies in your web browser, Software Publishers have the technical ability to track your activity, even if you change your IP address, so long as you are using the web browser where the persistent cookie was planted. You should refer to the Software Publisher’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use to determine whether they do, in fact, track you via the persistent cookie.
Links to Social Media Sites
Certain links on Mass.gov (whether integrated with Tools or otherwise) facilitate interaction with third-party social media sites. Accessing third-party social media functions (whether through a Tool or otherwise) may require you to log in to your social media provider, and that social media provider may plant a persistent cookie on your web browser to keep you logged in. Any interaction with any such social media provider (whether through a Tool or otherwise) is subject to such social media provider’s site policies, and such provider may plant one or more additional persistent cookies on your web browser as a result of your interaction with it.
Dissemination of Your Personally Identifiable Information – We do not sell any personally identifiable information collected through this website or submitted to us using functions on the website, and there is no direct or online public access to the information. However, once you voluntarily submit personally identifiable information to us, its dissemination is governed by the ” Public Records Law,” the ” Fair Information Practices Act (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66A),” ” Executive Order 504 
,” and other applicable laws and regulations. For this reason, part or all of the information you send us may be provided to a member of the public in response to a public records request. There are pieces of information, such as credit card numbers, TIN, username, or password that are not considered public for the purposes of a public records request, moreover we do not ask for or collect such information. For more information on types of data exempted from disclosure under the Public Records Law, please read the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Public Records Law.
In addition, the information that you voluntarily submit will be disclosed only to Commonwealth employees or officials, or those under contract with the Commonwealth, with a “need to know” for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. The information will be used for such purposes as; answering your questions, responding to any requests for assistance, generating summary statistics about usage, auditing applications and detecting fraud, aiding in the planning, design and development of the Mass.Gov Portal, and fulfilling the Commonwealth’s legal obligations.
We will collect and aggregate the information you provide through surveys and through the website’s collection of non-personally identifying analytics data for purposes of market research to improve this Portal by making it more responsive to customer needs. Where appropriate, we may provide the information you submitted voluntarily through an e-mail to the person or company that is the subject of your inquiry, or to a government agency responsible for the matters referred to in your communication.
Special Protections Against Misuse of Personally Identifiable Information Within Commonwealth Offices – Executive Order 504 was issued in 2008, which enhanced the privacy protection given to any information about you as a named individual held by the Executive Department of state government. Executive Order 504 limits the collection and dissemination of personally identifiable information within the Executive Department and requires Executive Department agencies to greatly enhance the security and integrity of such data. This website complies with Executive Order 504, so all of the personally identifiable information that you submit to this website is given the privacy protections set forth in Executive Order 504.
Definitions:
Cookies are files that a website can place on your computer. A cookie file contains unique information that a website can use to track such things as your password, lists of Web pages you have visited, and the date when you last looked at a specific Web page, or to identify your session at a particular website. A cookie file allows the website to recognize you as you click through pages on the site and when you later revisit the site. A website can use cookies to “remember” your preferences, and to record your browsing behavior on the Web. Although you can prevent websites from placing cookies on your computer by using your browser’s preference menu, disabling cookies may affect your ability to view or interact with some websites.
An “Internet Protocol Address” or “IP Address” is a series of numbers that identifies each computer and machine connected to the Internet. An IP address enables a server on a computer network to send you the file that you have requested on the Internet. The IP address disclosed to us may identify the computer from which you are accessing the Internet, or a server owned by your Internet Service Provider. Because it is machine-specific, rather than person-specific, an IP address is not, in and of itself, personally identifiable information.
“Social Media”. A social media website is a website on a social media application that is usually maintained by an individual and has regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. A social media identity is a specific user identity that has been registered on a third party social media site and is associated with the Agency. Government social media sites or identities typically provide forums for commentary or news on topics related to the government agency that hosts the social media site or has secured the social media identity. A typical social media site (whether hosted by the Agency or a third party) combines text, images, and links to other websites including blogs, wikis, and other media related to the topic and enables readers to leave comments in an interactive format.
“Weblog” or “Blog”. A weblog or blog is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Government blogs typically provide commentary and news on topics related to the government agency hosting the blog. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to the topic, and enables readers to leave comments in an interactive format.
“Wiki”. A wiki is a website that uses collaboration software to enable the creation of a number of interlinked web pages. Many authors can contribute to the website and upload content to the site. Government wikis typically provide a venue for commentary and discussion regarding topics related to the government agency hosting the wiki. A typical wiki combines text, images, and links to other web pages outside the wiki also related to the topic, and enables readers to leave comments in an interactive format.
Contact Information. For questions about your privacy while using this Web site, please email the Buzzards Bay NEP.
Last update: November 15, 2023
Address: Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program, 81-B County Rd Suite E, Mattapoisett, MA 02739-1686. Go to the finding us page for a map.
Communications: Phone: 774-377-6009, email: Joe.Costa@Mass.gov