Thank you for visiting the Smithsonian Journeys website and reviewing our privacy policy. Smithsonian Journeys does not collect your personal information when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information to us. Smithsonian does not sell, exchange or release your personal information to outside parties without your consent. Once we obtain your consent, we consider it valid until revoked by you.
This privacy policy applies only to the on-line activities of Smithsonian Journeys. For direct mail and other marketing activities not involving electronic commerce, Smithsonian Journeys adheres to the Direct Marketing Association's Privacy Promise and privacy guidelines.
Information Collected and Stored Automatically
If you visit our website, we automatically gather and store the following information about your visit so that we can track the use of our website in order to make improvements. This information is stored and used in aggregate form only, and is not used to contact you personally:
- The IP address from which you access our website
- The name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are connecting from an America Online account)
- The type of browser and operating system used to access our website
- The date and time you access our site
- The pages, files, documents and links that you visit
- The Internet address of the website from which you linked to this website
Cookies
In addition to information collected automatically, we may also collect cookies, which are small pieces of information sent to your browser by a website that you visit. Cookies are used to track usage patterns, traffic trends and customer behavior, as well as to record other information from the website. Cookies also allow us to save information so that you will not have to re-enter it on subsequent visits to the site. Many content adjustments and customer service improvements are made based on the data derived from cookies. Information that we collect from cookies will not be used to create profiles of users and will only be used in aggregate form.
We may employ other companies to provide marketing services on our behalf. With our approval, these third parties may also place "cookies" for analysis purposes. These third-party companies will have access to the information needed to perform their functions but cannot use that information for any other purpose. These third-party companies will only have access to non-personal information about your visit or transaction, such as the URLS which lead you to and around our site, pages visited, the product(s) purchased, and the amount spent; these companies will not have access to information that will allow them to personally identify you.
You may set your browser to refuse cookies from any website that you visit. If you choose to do so, you may still gain access to most of the Smithsonian Journeys website, but you may not be able to take advantage of some of the interactive elements offered.
If You Send Us Personal Information
The Smithsonian Journeys website will only collect personal information which you knowingly and voluntarily provide by, for example, sending emails, registering for tours, responding to surveys. If you provide us with personal information, we will normally respond to your inquiry, request or order. We may also contact you to provide information about Smithsonian activities, programs, membership and development opportunities, products and special events that may interest you. We will never share your name or information outside the Smithsonian unless you affirmatively authorize us to do so by opting-in.
When we send you such information by email, you will always have an immediate opportunity to decline further communication. Please use the contact specified in the email so that we can remove you from the list that contains your name. If you are uncertain about whom to contact, you may contact our webmaster at SJCustomerRelations@si.edu.
There are opportunities to opt-in to receive information from non-Smithsonian entities. If you opt-in, you may receive correspondence from these organizations on programs, products or services that might interest you. If you decide to opt-out of receiving any further correspondence from a non-Smithsonian entity, please correspond directly with that business or organization to be removed from their mailing list.
Children and Privacy
Smithsonian Journeys is concerned about protecting children's privacy. We do not knowingly market to children or collect personally identifiable information from children. No child should shop or submit personal information to this or any other web site without the consent of a parent or guardian.
Security
We take reasonable precautions to ensure that all credit card transactions that occur on the web site are secure. When you submit your credit card for any purchase at Smithsonian Journeys, that transaction is encrypted using "Secure Socket Layer" (SSL) encryption to prevent your credit card information from being seen as it travels over the Internet to our servers. We monitor network traffic to ensure that our site remains available to all users and to identify unauthorized attempts to access, upload or change information or otherwise cause damage.
Unauthorized access is prohibited and punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.
Linking
Within the Smithsonian Journeys website are links to non-Smithsonian websites. When you link to a third party website, you leave our website and will no longer be subject to our privacy policy. The Smithsonian is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of non-Smithsonian websites, and such link is not intended to be an endorsement of the non-Smithsonian website or its content.
Comments
Questions and comments about this Smithsonian Journeys Privacy Policy may be directed to us via email at SJCustomerRelations@si.edu. The Smithsonian Institution is a large organization with many people sharing responsibility for the content of websites. Please help us respond to your comments and inquiries by sending them to the appropriate Smithsonian office. In order to help you contact the appropriate Smithsonian office, please consult our list of contacts at http://smithsonian.org/contacts.
