Veterans Legal Clinic Chapter 115 Eligibility Tool Privacy Policy
Effective Date: January 22, 2019
1. Introduction
The Veterans Legal Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (the “Veterans Legal Clinic” or “We”) understands the sensitivity of the information we ask you to provide when you use the Chapter 115 Eligibility Tool (the “Tool”), available at https://massvetben.org/calculator/ (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy details our privacy practices and explains what information we collect through the Site and the limited way we will use that information.
PLEASE REVIEW THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. By using the Site, you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use and consent to our collection, use, disclosure, and retention of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you have not done so already, please also review our Terms of Use. The Terms of Use contain provisions that limit our liability to you. If you do not agree with any part of this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use, please do not use the Site.
2. Information We Collect and How We Collect It
We collect various kinds of information that you provide to us as well as information we obtain from your use of the Site, including:
- “Application Information”: information needed to assess your potential eligibility for Chapter 115 benefits that, by itself, does not identify an individual, including, but not limited to, your military service history, marital status, income, and social welfare benefits received; and
- “Usage Data”: information about an individual’s online activity that, by itself, does not identify the individual, including such technical information as your browser type, service provider, IP address, operating system, and referring URLs.
We will also collect your email address if you choose to receive a completed budget sheet by email. We do not collect any other personally identifiable information, such as your name, date of birth, social security number, and residential address. And you do not need to provide such information to complete the budget sheet.
We collect Application Information from you when you use the Tool. We and third-party services (such as Google Analytics) collect Usage Data when you visit the Site through automated means, such as cookies and web server logs. Cookies are small computer files sent to or accessed from your web browser or your device’s hard drive that contain information about your device. By visiting the Site, you consent to the placement of cookies and similar technologies in your browser in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to manage and delete cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Some web browsers (including some mobile web browsers) provide settings that allow a user to reject cookies or to alert a user when a cookie is placed on the user’s device. Most mobile devices also offer settings to reject mobile device identifiers. Although users are not required to accept cookies or mobile device identifiers, blocking or rejecting them may prevent access to some features available through the Site.
3. How We Use Your Information
We may use the information we collect for any of the following purposes:
- for internal and Site-related purposes, including to operate, provide, and maintain the Site;
- to assess whether you potentially qualify for Chapter 115 benefits and, if so, to estimate the amount of monthly benefits you may potentially receive;
- to email you a copy of completed Chapter 115 benefits budget sheet if you so request;
- for security, to detect fraud or illegal activities, or for archival and backup purposes in connection with the provision of the Site;
- to monitor and analyze usage of the Site and to improve and enhance the Site;
- for statistical analysis and other lawful purpose, including in research studies intended to help us understand and evaluate how people use the Tool; and
- to enforce our Terms of Use, to defend our legal rights, and to comply with our legal obligations and internal policies.
In addition, with your consent, we may offer you the opportunity to share information that you provide using the Site to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services and/or a Veteran Service Officer within the Commonwealth (“Government Third-Parties”) in an effort to facilitate your interaction with such Government Third Parties and the process of assessing benefits eligibility. Such Government Third-Parties’ Use of information shared with them shall be subject to those Government Third-Parties’ own privacy policies and/or applicable law.
4. How We Share Your Information
We disclose information that we collect through the Site to third parties in the following circumstances:
- To third-party service providers who provide services such as website hosting, data analysis, information technology and related infrastructure provisions, customer service, email delivery, and other services.
- To a potential or actual acquirer, successor, or assignee as part of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our organization or assets. You will have the opportunity to opt out of any such transfer if the new entity’s planned processing of your information differs materially from that set forth in this Privacy Policy.
- If required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is appropriate: to comply with legal process; to respond to requests from public and government authorities; to enforce our Terms of Use; to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain. We otherwise will not share your information with any government agency or officer, including the Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services and local Veterans’ Services Officers.
5. How We Store & Protect Your Information
We will not retain any Application Information you provide after you exit the Site. If you choose to receive a completed budget by email, the Site will automatically record your email address but will not retain a copy of the budget sheet.
We have in place administrative, physical, and technical procedures that are intended to protect the information we collect on the Site against accidental or unlawful destruction, accidental loss, unauthorized alteration, unauthorized disclosure or access, misuse, and any other unlawful form of processing of your information that is in our possession. For example, we strictly limit access to the Tool servers and the data we store on them. However, as effective as these measures are, no security system is impenetrable. We cannot completely guarantee the security of our databases, nor can we guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.
6. Underage Users
The Site is not intended for use by children. If you are under the age of majority in your place of residence, you may use the Site only with the consent of or under the supervision of your parent or legal guardian.
Consistent with the requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, if we learn that we have received any information directly from a child under age 13 without first receiving his or her parent’s verified consent, we will use that information only to respond directly to that child (or his or her parent or legal guardian) to inform the child that he or she cannot use the Site and subsequently we will delete that information.
7. Changes to This Policy
We may from time to time change this privacy policy with or without notice, so please check it regularly for any changes or updates. For future reference, we will make a link to the current Privacy Policy available to you on your screen when you are on the Site.
8. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, or other comments about this Privacy Policy, you can contact the Veterans Legal Clinic at veteranslegalclinc@harvard.law.edu.