Privacy Policy

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MUSC Internet Disclaimer

Except as noted, the information below applies to official MUSC Web sites, which are defined as the official Web pages of the University schools, departments, divisions and Medical University Hospital Authority (MUHA). You may also find within the Medical University of South Carolina domain -- signified by the address "musc.edu" and the Medical University Hospital Authority (MUHA) signified by the domain “www.muschealth.com” or within the range of Internet protocol addresses assigned to the Medical University of South Carolina -- Web sites over which the University has no editorial responsibility or control. Such sites include but are not limited to the Web pages of individual faculty members or students and the Web pages of student organizations and other organizations not formally a part of the University. Although the University and MUHA encourages compliance with all University policies and practices at such Web sites, the University and MUHA serve only as a neutral provider of Internet-related services to them. MUSC recommends that you seek information from the persons responsible for those sites directly to ensure that you know under what policies and practices they operate.

All text, images, logos and information contained on official MUSC sites are the intellectual property of MUSC unless otherwise registered are protected under the U.S. Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 101-810. Copyright gives the owner exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license a given work. Whether or not a Web site includes a statement about copyright, the US copyright act provides protection for such works, and they may not be used or reproduced without permission.

It is the responsibility of all parties storing materials on Web sites with the MUSC/MUHA domain addresses to ensure that such material does not violate other parties' proprietary rights and does not otherwise violate law or applicable University policy. MUSC reserves the right to delete or make inaccessible files that contain material that is in violation of law or of applicable MUSC policy. MUSC is not responsible for any errors in the material provided on the Web and shall not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of any material found on official MUSC web sites or on any other sites with University domain addresses.

The design, pictures, and logos used on the MUSC owned Web sites may not be copied and used or posted by any other person or entity without the written approval of the Medical University of South Carolina. This includes but is not limited to the Home Pages, all Secondary Web Pages, news pages, and maps. Links may be directed to these pages, but images, logos, maps, may not be copied and/or posted for any reason.

All questions concerning the use of the University’s design, pictures and logos should be directed to brandmgr@musc.edu.

Links to Other Sites

Provision of links from official MUSC Web sites to sites located outside of the MUSC domains do not imply endorsement or credibility of the service, information, or product offered through the linked sites.

Respect for Copyrights of Digital Materials and Software
(See: Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf )

It is the policy of the MUSC to respect the copyright protections given by federal law to owners of digital materials and software. It is against MUSC policy for faculty, staff, or students to use MUSC equipment or services to access, use, copy or otherwise reproduce, or make available to others any copyright-protected digital materials or software except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law (especially with respect to "fair use") or specific license.

The software provided through the MUSC for use by faculty, staff, and students may be used only on computing equipment as specified in the various software licenses.

MUSC regards violation of this policy as a serious matter, and any such violation is without its consent and is subject to disciplinary action. Repeated violations will result in loss of computing privileges, among other sanctions.

Pursuant to 37 CFR 201.38, MUSC has designated the following persons to receive notification from copyright owners of claimed infringement of copyright:

Copyright Infringement Claims

Joseph C. Good
University Counsel
Medical University of South Carolina
PO Box 250204
171 Ashley Avenue
Charleston, South Carolina 29425
(telephone) (843) 792-4063
(facsimile) (843) 792-0570
(e-mail) goodj@musc.edu

Annette R. Drachman
Legal Affairs
MUSC Medical Center
PO Box 250332
169 Ashley Avenue
Charleston, SC 29425
(telephone) (843) 792-3935
(facsimile) (843) 792-0313
(e-mail) drachman@musc.edu

Commitment to Privacy

Each Individuals' privacy is important to the Medical University of South Carolina. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our online information policy and practices.

Our privacy and public records obligations are governed by applicable State and Federal Statutes. Certain information related to medical records and personal health information is deemed privileged and is protected while most other information, although confidential may still be accessible through the South Carolina “Freedom of Information statutes or through judicial processes.

Information Collection Notice

This notice applies to all information collected by or submitted to official MUSC Web sites (see the definition above). The following information explains the Internet/Intranet privacy policy and practices that the University has adopted for its official Web sites In legal terms, it shall not be construed as a contractual promise, and the University reserves the right to amend it at any time without notice.

In addition to this explanation of policy and practice, the University encourages its schools, departments, divisions and other units contributing to its official Web pages to provide specific notices about the collection and use of any personal information associated with those pages. The following information is therefore general, and we encourage you to read page-specific notices to ensure that you understand precisely the applicable privacy policies and practices which relate to those specific pages.

When you access our Web pages, MUSC collects a series of information. Some of this information is collected automatically each time you visit any of our Web pages. Other optional information is collected only when the visitor and/or client chooses to provide us with specific information. The following is an overview of the information which we collect:

Information which we automatically collected from each visitor:

Information which we automatically collected with each visit to MUSC’s official web sites:

Internet domain and internet address of the computer you are using
Identification of the page or service you are requesting
Type of web browser you are using
Type of operating system you are using
The date and time of access.
The amount of time you spent on our site
The path (links) you took to arrive at our Web. Examples include, Google ™, Yahoo ® or any of the various other search engines with links to MUSC
Internet "cookie information"

Optional information you provide to us:

When you choose to communicate with us via e-mail we collect the following information:

Your name as it appears on your e-mail
e-mail address
Date and time of communication
The content of your e-mail.

When you choose to communicate with us through online forms we may collect the following information or in some cases this information may be passed onto a trusted third party for processing your request. In such cases we will make every effort to provide notice of such exchange of information to any of our trusted partners. Examples of the type of optional information we may collect include:

Any data you choose to fill in
Any information you provide us on the form, including credit or debit card information if you are ordering a product or making a payment, as well as information about other people if you are ordering a gift and want it sent directly to the recipient's address.

How We Use The Information We Collect:

Visitor / client information is used to route the requested Web information page to your computer browser for viewing. In theory, the requested Web page and the routing information could be discerned by other entities involved in transmitting the requested page to you. We do not control the privacy practices of those entities. The information we collect automatically each time you visit our sites helps us to better respond to your request in an appropriate format. In addition, this information is also used to better develop our sites to meet the demands of our audience.

The optional information we collect is essential for us to provide services or information tailored more specifically to your needs or to forward your message or inquiry to another entity that is better able to do so.

We may keep client information from our systems indefinitely after the Web page is transmitted, but we do not try to obtain any information to link it to the individuals who browse our Web site However, on rare occasions when a "hacker" attempts to breach computer security, logs of access information are retained to permit a security investigation and in such cases may be forwarded together with any other relevant information in our possession to law enforcement agencies.

Under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, any records in our possession at the time of a Freedom of Information Request might be subject to being inspected by or disclosed to members of the public for any purpose they may desire. As indicated above, client information may be retained after transmission of the requested Web page and might be subject to disclosure.

We use the information you provide about yourself when placing an order or request only to complete that order or request. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order or request. Similarly, we use the information you provide about someone else when placing an order or request only to complete that order or request. Again, we do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order or request.

We generally use return e-mail addresses only to answer the e-mail we receive. Such addresses are generally not used for any other purpose unless authorized to do so by the originator of the e-mail communication.

Finally, we never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones described above without a clear notice on the particular site and without also providing you an opportunity to opt-out. Any use of your information other than for those purposes or in conjunction with the notice provided at the time of the collection of such information is strictly prohibited by the Medical University of South Carolina.

Use of Internet “Cookies”

Some official University Web sites use "cookies." Often a cookie enables the University Web site to tailor what you see according to the way you entered our site.

Providing Information Is Your Choice

There is no legal requirement for you to provide any information at our Web site However, we cannot deliver certain services to you without routing certain required information to the appropriate parties. Failure of your browser to provide nonessential technical information (such as Web “Cookies”)will not prevent your use of our Web site but may prevent certain features from working. For any optional information that is requested at the Web site, failure to provide the requested information will mean that the particular feature or service associated with that part of the Web page may not be available to you.

Our Commitment To Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online, consistent with the policies of the University and with the laws and regulations of the State of South Carolina.

How To Contact Us

Should you have other questions or concerns about these privacy policies and practices, please contact "webmaster" at webmaster@musc.edu.