document: title: privacy policy
text: ##### Effective July 13, 2004

This Web site is operated and maintained by the RAND Corporation. RAND is a nonprofit organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. 

RAND is committed to protecting your privacy and providing a safe and rewarding online experience. This Privacy Policy describes RAND's policies and procedures for the collection of personal information by this site, and our use and dissemination of such information.

##  Privacy Principles

Because your privacy is important to us, we will operate by the following principles of Notice, Choice, Security, and Reasonable Access. Users seeking additional information regarding the principles should write to feedback.

NOTICE  
RAND explicitly asks when it needs information that identifies you individually ("Personal Information"). In general, you can visit our site without disclosing any personal information. 

RAND collects information in the following categories depending upon purpose or need:

  * Contact information
  * Shipping information
  * Billing information
  * Demographics



Credit card numbers are used for processing of orders only and are not given to third parties except for processing your order. Under their agreements with us, these third-party partners may not retain, share, store, or use personal information for any secondary purposes. If necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was submitted, or if you give your consent, RAND may use your personal information to operate its site and provide services, to communicate with you regarding your RAND account(s), to fulfill orders and requests, to allow participation in voluntary activities (such as discussion forums), or to compile general demographic statistics. RAND is the only party that collects personal information at this site. RAND does not allow any other party to use its site to collect personal information. 

CHOICE  
As a general rule, RAND uses personal information only for the purpose for which it was submitted. At the time of collection, RAND may ask whether you will permit RAND to use your personal information in other ways. For example, RAND may ask you whether you would like to receive certain information and email from RAND or its service partners, or if you wish to participate in demographic surveys. Unless you specifically consent to such use, RAND will use your information only for the purpose for which it was submitted.

RAND will not send you unsolicited information, commercial offers, or advertisements, including email, without your consent. If at any time you would like to be removed from our physical mailing list (e.g., to receive printed catalogs), please send an email message to order@rand.org, or write to RAND Distribution Services at the address below. To be removed from ALL email mailing list, please send an email message to maillist@rand.org with "unsubscribe" in the subject line or message.

If RAND decides to change its privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so that our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and the circumstances, if any, under which we disclose it. If at any point RAND decides to use personal information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify users by email. Users will have a choice as to whether or not RAND uses their information in this different manner. RAND will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected. 

SECURITY  
RAND has established and maintains reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information collected by this site. RAND will disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served you, RAND, or the site.

REASONABLE ACCESS  
RAND does not currently maintain an online database containing any personal information provided by our visitors and is therefore unable to provide you with access to such information online. 

If you wish to review, update or change personal information that you have supplied to RAND (such as a change in address), please contact feedback, call (310) 393-0411, or write to RAND, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138.

For more information about our privacy statement, see Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of RAND, or your experience with this web site, please contact feedback, call (310) 393-0411, or write to RAND, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138.

##  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How does RAND use personal information?  
Generally, RAND and our service partners use your personal information to operate the site and to deliver our services. For example, if you place an order for a RAND publication, RAND will ask for personal information needed to process your order, such as your address. RAND may provide other companies access to your personal information so that they can provide routine services, such as credit card processing or shipping your order(s).

RAND may use your email address to respond to incoming service requests from you. We may also provide you, on occasion, with information about new products or special offers that may interest you. For information about being removed from the RAND mailing list(s), please see the principle regarding CHOICE.

How does RAND use the demographic data you may provide?  
On occasion, RAND may request demographic information or profile data, in online surveys or questionnaires. Provision of this information is strictly voluntary and is used to tailor our products or services to better meet the needs of those visiting our site. This demographic information is not shared with third parties except as required by law. From time to time, RAND may also collect demographic data as a component of our research undertakings. However, we will not gather such data without your knowledge or consent.

Does RAND share personal information with other companies?  
RAND does not share your personal information, except with partners who assist in providing services or products associated with the RAND sites. Without this relationship, RAND could not provide its service to you. Under their agreements with us, these third-party partners may not retain, share, store, or use personal information for any secondary purposes. 

Is your order secure?  
RAND, our Internet Service Provider (ISP), and other service providers have taken every reasonable step to ensure that you have a safe experience online. Your credit card orders are processed over a secure platform using encryption technology. RAND has established and maintains reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information collected by this site.

How does this apply to links that you find on the RAND site?  
This site contains links to other sites. RAND will take every reasonable step to ensure that links provide a pleasing online experience; however, RAND is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such web sites.

What about cookies and non-personally identifiable information?  
When visitors come to our site, we collect and aggregate information indicating, among other things, which web pages were visited, the order in which they were visited, and which hyperlinks, if any, were "clicked" by the visitor. Collecting such information involves the logging of IP addresses, operating system (e.g., Windows or Macintosh), type of browser software (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer), and Internet Service Providers (e.g., AOL or EarthLink) used by each visitor to the site. Although such information is not personally identifiable, it can be used to determine the IP address of the visitor's Internet Service Provider and the geographic location of his or her point of connectivity to the Internet.

Cookies are small bits of information that our site places on the hard drive of your computer. The site may require you to enable cookies to utilize all of our services. The cookie itself does not contain any personally identifiable information about a visitor, and RAND does not use cookies in order to obtain such information. RAND will never save credit card information in cookies. Cookies are used by most major sites of the Internet.

RAND uses non-personally identifiable information and information obtained through the use of cookies in order to improve the site. By tracking how many people visit our site and where visitors go on our site, we are able to determine which parts of the site users like the best, which parts need some improvement, and what changes should be made. By obtaining this information, we are able to continually improve our site and bring you the best online experience possible.

How can you contact us about this web site?  
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of RAND, or your experience with this web site, please contact feedback, call (310) 393-0411, or write to RAND, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138.

#####  About this Site

#####  About RAND