Our commitment to privacy

The Miller Center is strongly committed to maintaining the privacy and security of confidential personal information and other sensitive data that it collects. Our privacy and public records obligations are governed by applicable Virginia statues, including, but not limited to, the Virginia Privacy Protection Act of 1976, the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and by any applicable U.S. federal laws.

Notice about the information we collect

This notice applies to all information collected by or submitted to official Miller Center websites. The following information explains the Internet privacy policy and practices that the Miller Center has adopted for its official websites.

When you access any of our websites, we collect certain essential technical information automatically – we refer to those categories collectively as “access information.” No other information is collected through our official websites except “optional information” sent to us by email or online forms.

Children’s privacy

The Miller Center offers a range of scholarly content that is of interest to users of all ages. Any visitor to our website who is 13 or younger should have the consent of a parent or guardian. We do not collect any personally identifiable information, except for what is shared with us voluntarily through a web form. If we determine that any personally identifiable information shared with us is from a child, in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we delete that information immediately after responding to the question or request.       

Automatically-collected access information

We use access information to help diagnose problems with our servers, administer our website by identifying which parts of our site are most heavily used, and plan website improvements. We do not link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable. This means that user sessions will be tracked but users will remain anonymous.

Here is the information we collect:

• Client information: the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using.
• Essential technical information: identification of the page or service you are requesting, type of browser and operating system you are using, and the date and time of access.
• Nonessential technical information: the IP address of the website from which you linked directly to our website and the “cookie information” associated with that action.
• Personal data/form data: When you send us an email, we may collect your email address, your name, and the content of your email. [Children 13 and younger] If we determine that an inquiry was made by a child, in compliance with COPPA, we will delete any personally identifiable information immediately after responding to the question or request.

How we use information

Client information is used to route the requested web page to your computer for viewing. In theory, the requested web page and the routing information could be discerned by other entities involved in transmitting the requested page to you. We do not control the privacy practices of those entities.

We may use non-identifying and aggregate information to better design our website. For example, we may report that X number of individuals visited a certain area on our website, but we would not disclose anything that could be used to identify those individuals.

We may keep client information from our systems indefinitely after the web page is transmitted, but we do not try to obtain any information to link it to the individuals who browse our website.

Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, any records in our possession at the time of a Freedom of Information Request might be subject to being inspected by or disclosed to members of the public for any purpose they may desire. As indicated above, client information may be retained after transmission of the requested web page and might be available for inspection.

We generally use return email addresses only to answer the email we receive, except for the uses outlined in the “Choice/opt-out” section below. Such addresses are not used for any other purpose and, by University and state policy, are not shared with outside parties.

Finally, we never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones described above without clear notice and the opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such uses.

Choice/opt-out

We may use your email address to offer you the opportunity to sign up to receive Miller Center newsletters, event updates, and announcements. You are not required to sign up for these materials, and we provide you the opportunity to opt out of receiving newsletters and promotional email communications from us at any time.

We may also use your email address to invite you to donate to us. If you prefer not to receive such correspondence, you can opt out by emailing millercenter@virginia.edu.

Use of cookies

Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer (unless you block them). We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. Some cookies assign a unique identifier to a site session, which we can use to analyze a particular site visit from an anonymous user, but at all times your identity remains anonymous. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. These service providers are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business.

Third-party cookies may be set by an organization other than the Miller Center. These third-party cookies may, for example, originate from websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google, or other social media services for which the Miller Center has implemented “plug-ins.” Since the cookie policies of these sites change over time, you should determine their policies by visiting the privacy policy pages of these sites directly.

You may disable cookies through your individual browser options. If you would like to learn more about cookies, please refer to this website: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/

Facebook conversion tracking

Third parties may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect or receive information from your browser and elsewhere on the Internet and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads. Facebook users can opt-out of the collection and use of information for ad targeting using the following links: http://www.aboutads.info/choices and http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/.

Google Analytics and Retargeting 

Like many sites, we collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Site. This information may include statistics about your site visit such as time on site, pages visited, and referral pages. We may also collect data through cookies, third-party pixels, and other web beacons for the purpose of retargeting campaigns. The data we collect is sent to Google Analytics/Ads and other third parties to provide measurement services and retargeting. We use retargeting to inform an interested audience of upcoming events and other Miller Center offerings. To reach a wide audience for our retargeting campaigns we partner with third-party vendors to display our target ads on websites across the internet. We do not control or approve the websites where our ads may appear online. Users can opt-out of the collection and use of information for ad targeting using the following links: https://adssettings.google.com/ and https://optout.networkadvertising.org.

User-generated content (including comments and profiles)

We offer opportunities for you to engage in discussions on our website, including submitting comments and replies on selected pages. Any information you disclose in your submission of comments, including name, email, website, and the comment itself, is visible to the public.

The Miller Center reserves the right to remove any content from appearing on our site that is defamatory, off-topic, inappropriate, vulgar, repetitive, or spam.

Our commitment to data security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online, consistent with the policies of the University of Virginia and with the laws and regulations of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Changes to this policy

This privacy policy may be amended from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page. The effective date of this policy was July 24, 2020.