The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth and Cogito.org staff and its partners are firmly committed to protecting the privacy of all Cogito.org visitors. This policy is intended to offer both the general Cogito.org visitor and Cogito.org members and their parents/guardians a clear understanding of the personal information Cogito collects and how it may be used.
Cogito.org maintains a portion of the Cogito Website for the general visitor that requires neither log-in nor registration. No personally identifiable information is therefore collected about the general visitor. On the portion of the site reserved for members only, a membership process does require the provision of personally identifiable information including name, address, e-mail address, and date of birth, all of which will be stored. Cogito may also request academic information as part of the member application process. Information about the parents of our member-users, such as name and contact information will also be collected and stored. This is collected so that we are able to contact parents/guardians as the need arises. Upon acceptance, members will be asked to select a username and password to be used in logging into the member-only areas of the site. It is recommended that this username not contain any elements that connect the member to their actual name.
We may also aggregate information about our users to identify the number of users of a certain age or gender, for example, in order to best meet the needs of our users. There are no personal identifiers in these aggregated data and this information is not shared with anyone outside of Cogito.org, JHU/CTY or our partners except as provided for in this Privacy Policy.
We do reserve the right to disclose personally identifiable information when deemed necessary or appropriate to comply with the law, respond to claims, protect our computer systems and other users, ensure the integrity and operation of our operations and systems, or protect the rights, property or safety of Cogito.org, its affiliates and partners, or others. Otherwise, we will not disclose members' personally identifiable information to third parties without advance permission from the user or the user's parents (if they are under the age of 13) except as explained in this privacy policy or as explained at the time the information is collected. Parents maintain the right to agree to the collection and use of their child's personal information without consenting to that information being disclosed to a third party except as stated above.
Use of Cookies
Most standard web browsers contain a feature called "cookies," which allow a web site to place information about a user's visit to that web site in a small data text file that is stored on the user's computer. Our use of cookie technology is limited to facilitating member's access to the members-only areas of the Website through the storage of name and password and technology that provides place tracking in the forums. You can turn the cookies feature off by using your browser preference options, but doing so will severely limit your access to the site and may prevent you from using the member areas of Cogito.org.
Children's Privacy
Cogito.org is particularly committed to providing a safe online environment for children. Our primary focus is providing content and services to children between the ages of 8 and 18 who meet our membership criteria.
Children aged 13 through 18 who meet the criteria for membership will be allowed to register on the site and have access to both content and interactive areas of the site. In compliance with COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule), Children under the age of 13 who meet the criteria for membership and upon written permission provided by a parent or legal guardian and who have completed the registration process will have access to members-only areas of the site. We strongly recommend that all members under the age of 18 select a username that does not include any identifiable information, including, but not limited to, any part of their real name, their location, their school, their birthdate or any other information that can be linked to them personally.
Parents or legal guardians may contact Cogito staff to change, update, delete or manage the information Cogito has about their children by emailing cogitocty@jhu.edu.
Affiliated and Linked Sites
Cogito expects its partners, providers of content and services and anyone else involved with the site to respect the privacy of our users. Be aware, however, that our partners and third parties, providers of content and services, and others accessible through our site may have their own privacy and data collection policies and practices. While we do take care to insure that any links to other sites are appropriate for our members, we are not responsible for the actions or policies of such third parties. You should check the applicable privacy policies of those third parties before providing personal information on a feature or page operated by a third party.
Contact Information
If you have any questions or comments about our policies, we may be reached at cogitocty@jhu.edu.
Effective Date: 7 February 2007