Legal Disclosure & Privacy Policy

The State Sustainability Index website is owned and operated by the Hoosier Environmental Council. Please visit www.hecweb.org for information on the Hoosier Environmental Council.

The State Sustainability Index website was developed by graduate students of Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

All content provided on this website is for informational purposes only. State Sustainability Index strives to provide accurate and complete information alongside citations and methodological processes. The State Sustainability Index holds no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information found by following any link on this site. We are not liable for any errors or omissions in information nor for the availability of this information. State Sustainability Index will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

Content Changes

State Sustainability Index may continue to update old posts and is not bound to explicitly state any or all corrections made.

Disclosure of Material Connection

State Sustainability Index has not received any direct compensation for writing content. We have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that we have mentioned. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Update of Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at anytime and without notice.

Privacy Policy

Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.

What information do we collect?

When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your Name, Email address or other details to help you with your experience.

When do we collect information?


We collect information from you when you subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form or enter information on our site.

How do we use your information?

We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:

• To personalize user’s experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.
• To improve our website in order to better serve you.
• To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature.
• To send periodic emails regarding your order or other products and services.

How do we protect visitor information?

We use vulnerability scanning and/or scanning to PCI standards. We use an SSL certificate.

We implement security measures when a user:

• Enters, submits, or accesses their information.
• We use a payment gateway provider.

Do we use ‘cookies’?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.

We use cookies to:

• Understand and save user’s preferences for future visits.
• Keep track of advertisements.
• Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third party services that track this information on our behalf. Got questions about your privacy policy?

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser’s Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies. 
If you disable cookies, some features will be disabled. It will, however, affect the users experience that make your site experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly.

Third Party Disclosure

We may transfer your non-identifiable information to third parties. We may also transfer your identifiable information, but only to trusted third parties (such as our e-mail subscription service provider).

Third party links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third party products or services on our website. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Google

Google’s advertising requirements can be summed up by Google’s Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1316548?hl=en

We use Google AdSense Advertising on our website.

Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our site and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.

We have implemented the following:

• Remarketing with Google AdSense
• Google Display Network Impression Reporting
• Demographics and Interests Reporting
• DoubleClick Platform Integration

We along with third-party vendors, such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions, and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.

Opting out:


Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising initiative opt out page or permanently using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on.

California Online Privacy Protection Act

CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require a person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting personally identifiable information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals with whom it is being shared, and to comply with this policy. – See more at: http://consumercal.org/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf

According to CalOPPA we agree to the following:


Users can visit our site anonymously

Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page, or as a minimum on the first significant page after entering our website.

Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’, and can be easily be found on the page specified above.

Users will be notified of any privacy policy changes on our Privacy Policy Page

Users are able to change their personal information by emailing us

How does our site handle do not track signals?


We honor do not track signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.

Does our site allow third party behavioral tracking?


It’s also important to note that we allow third party behavioral tracking.

COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)

When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.

We do not specifically market to children under 13.

Fair Information Practices

The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur.

We will notify the users via email within 7 business days

We will notify the users via in site notification within 7 business days

We also agree to the individual redress principle, which requires that individuals have a right to pursue legally enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or a government agency to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.

CAN SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

We collect your email address in order to:

• Send information, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.
• Market to our mailing list or continue to send emails to our clients after the original transaction has occurred

To be accordance with CANSPAM we agree to the following:


• NOT use false, or misleading subjects or email addresses
• Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way
• Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters
• Monitor third party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
• Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly
• Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can follow the instructions at the bottom of each email.