Privacy Policy

The following policy applies to the use of the Massachusetts Centralized Nursing Placement System website. Other websites may have different policies. We strongly suggest that you read the privacy policies for each website that you visit, and any external site that you visit through a link appearing at this site.

A Privacy Partnership.

Your privacy with respect to the use of this website results from a partnership between the MDHE and you, the user. At this website, we attempt to protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible. However, because some of the information that we receive through this website is subject to Public Records Law, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66, Section 10, we cannot ensure absolute privacy. Information that you provide to us through this site may be made available to members of the public under that law. This policy 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 your privacy partnership with the MDHE 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, address, email address, Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information, or any combination of information that could be used to identify you.

Information Voluntarily Provided by You.

This site collects voluntary information from you only through the emails or web-based forms that you submit through this site. Emails or web-based forms and surveys sent by you to this site will contain personally identifiable information.

Information Automatically Collected and Stored by this Site.

This website may employ the use of "Persistent Cookies." The purpose of these Persistent Cookies is to collect and aggregate data regarding the site's visitor activity in order for the MDHE to evaluate and update its website services. You may elect to disable the Persistent Cookies. Please be advised that disabling the Persistent Cookies may affect your ability to view or interact with this website. The site also uses temporary "session cookies" to allow visitors to interact with the Portal and to use online applications. "Session cookies" do not allow us to personally identify a visitor. These cookies are stored only in memory and are deleted when the user's browser is shut down.

This site may collect and store indefinitely your Internet Protocol ("IP") address, (which does not identify you as an individual), as well as 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 your IP address to assess the frequency of visits to this site and the popularity of its various pages and functions. We will not attempt to match any personally identifiable information that you provide to us your IP address, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would provide information that is relevant and material to a criminal investigation.

In addition, this site may use a tool called "Google Analytics" to collect information about use of this site. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit this site, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to this site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve this site. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information. Although Google Analytics plants a permanent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit this site, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google's ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. The Google Analytics Terms of Use are available online at http://www.google.com/analytics/tos.html. The Google Privacy Policy is available online at http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser.

Dissemination of Your Personally Identifiable Information.

We do not sell any personally identifiable information collected through this website. 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. The Records Retention Law requires the EOE to preserve records created or received by a state employee. Pursuant to this retention requirement, emails or messages sent to a state email account and information submitted via the agency's Mass.gov website and comments posted or messages received via an official state agency page on a third-party web-site (such as an official agency profile on a social network) could be treated as state governmental records and may be permanently archived. Information that you submit voluntarily through third party social media sites where such sites are associated with EOE and when such information is publicly available, including your name, city or town, and the substance of anything that you post may be disseminated further by being posted online at this website or be publicly discussed by a member of the administration. In addition to social media postings, any emails or other communications you send us may be provided to a member of the public in response to a public records request. The information that you voluntarily submit through emails will be disclosed only to Commonwealth employees or officials with a "need to know" for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. They will only use information to answer your questions, respond to any requests for assistance, and fulfill any legal obligations. Where appropriate, we may provide the information submitted by you via social media sites or email to the person or company that is the subject of your inquiry, or to a government agency responsible for the matters 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 access the above references to these laws.

Security.

Because this site does not encrypt incoming email, you should not send information that you consider highly sensitive through this web site. We use standard security measures to ensure that your personally identifiable information is not lost, misused, altered, or unintentionally destroyed. We also use software programs 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.

Special Protections Against Misuse Of Personally Identifiable Information Within Commonwealth Offices.

In 2008, Governor Deval Patrick issued Executive Order 504, 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.

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. After any changes take effect, all new information we collect, if any, will be subject to the new policy.

Contact Information.

For questions about your privacy while using this web site, please contact the MDHE Legal Staff: Constantia (Dena) Papanikolaou, Legal Counsel; email contact: Angela Williams


Definitions: Cookies are files that a web site can place on your computer. A cookie file contains unique information that a web site 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 web site. A cookie file allows the web site to recognize you as you click through pages on the site and when you later revisit the site. A web site can use cookies to "remember" your preferences, and to record your browsing behavior on the web. Although you can prevent web sites 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 web sites.

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.