CGRS Privacy Policy

This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) discloses the privacy practices of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (“CGRS,” “we” or “us”) based at the University of California College of Law, San Francisco (“UC Law SF”) and uses of the information that we gather about users (“End Users”) and expert witnesses for asylum and other humanitarian matters, including clinics or other organizations that provide expert evaluations (“Experts”, and together with End Users, collectively, “Users,” a “User” or “you”) via https://cgrs.uclawsf.edu and any related applications, services, tools and features, including CGRS’s Expert Witness Database (as defined below), Technical Assistance Library, the Expert Witness Resource Library as well as submissions by you to CGRS (collectively, the “Services”). Note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to the general website for UC Law SF (www.uclawsf.edu) or the websites of any of UC Law SF’s other centers or departments. By using the Services you agree to the collection, use and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.

The Services can only be accessed and used subject to the CGRS Terms of Use. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By accessing, downloading, or using any of the Services, you agree to the use of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, you may not access and use the Services.

MODIFICATIONS OF PRIVACY POLICY

We may periodically modify the Privacy Policy. If we make material changes to the Privacy Policy we will use reasonable efforts to notify you via the Services (e.g., by posting a notice on our website indicating that the Privacy Policy has been changed) and take such other steps as required by applicable law. If you do not agree with any modifications to the Privacy Policy, please do not access or continue to use the Services.

COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION

When you access or use the Services, CGRS collects information about you in various ways, including through your submissions to the Services, participation in the Services and registration for the Services and through certain third-party service providers. CGRS collects the following information:

The following information about all Users who make an account: name, phone number, e-mail address, username, password, government affiliation, profession and organization. If you choose to use the Services and register an account, you are responsible for keeping your account credentials safe. Do not share your username, password or other access details with anyone else, except that Expert Witness users may authorize third parties to maintain their profiles as specifically provided for on the Expert Witness registration form. If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately.
The following information from Users who register on the Services specifically as an asylum seeker, an attorney or an Expert: name, email address, phone number, password and organization.

The following information about Experts who create a profile on our database where Users can locate and engage Experts (“Expert Witness Database”): name, preferred pronouns, title, email address, physical address, company, type of expert, related websites, institutional affiliations, educational background and other academic qualifications, information included in a CV, topic(s) of expertise (e.g., child psychology, gender-based violence, gang violence, violence against children), countries of expertise, language ability, fee structure, willingness to testify in court, availability for engagement, prior declarations and any references to the Expert in court decisions.
The following payment information from Users who choose to make a donation: name, email, partial credit card information and billing address, which is stored on Administrative Service Providers platforms.
The following information from Users who submit an asylum case intake form: client information (e.g., country of origin, date of border crossing, indigent status, gender, age, minor unaccompanied status, details of persecution), organization information (e.g., sources of funding), case information (e.g., qualification for legal services programs, procedural details, decision status, case issues, case summary, filing deadlines, participating attorneys).
The following information from Users who submit an outcomes form based on a prior case decision: the date of the decision and relevant decisionmaker (i.e., asylum office, immigration judge, etc.), applicant information (e.g., age, detention status at the time of the decision, any related applicants, whether the applicant had representation, and if so, who applicant represented by), protected grounds considered by the adjudicator, information regarding the reasoning for the outcome, whether the case is subject to the Asylum Processing Rule, whether the applicant has been granted other forms of relief, and information about the Expert in the case, if any, (e.g., name, type of expert, whether the expert’s qualifications or findings were challenged, whether the court mentioned the expert or their testimony in its decision) and any additional information or documents you choose to include in the form.
The following information from survey participants: name, email address, phone number, law firm and any feedback on the relevant Services which the survey participant chooses to provide.
Any other information that you choose to include in communications with us.

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS, REVIEWS AND COMMENTS

We collect information that you voluntarily provide as part of the Services, including messages, documents (including court documents or other documents related to cases), reviews, and other materials related to asylum matters or court proceedings which you submit through the Services (“User Generated Content”). CGRS or others may store, share, display, reproduce, publish, or otherwise use your User Generated Content and may or may not attribute it to you. With respect to any User Generated Content submitted by Users requesting assistance with an asylum case, CGRS may use such User Generated Content to (i) provide tailored assistance and materials for your case, (ii) inform our analyses of treatment of gender-based, child, LGBTQ and other claims for national policy and advocacy and (iii) share such User Generated Content with attorneys who seek our assistance in analogous cases or organizations to support our mutual advocacy efforts.

If you do not want certain information shared with others, you should not submit such User Generated Content to the Services. Once you have submitted User Generated Content, we reserve the right to publish it in any medium to others, and it may become public and able to be shared with third parties.

Please note that we do not control who will have access to the information that you choose to make available to others, and cannot ensure that parties who have access to such information will respect your privacy or keep it secure. We are not responsible for the privacy or security of any information that you make publicly available on the features permitting creation of User Generated Content or what others do with information you share with them on such platforms. We are not responsible for the accuracy, use or misuse of any User Generated Content that you disclose or receive from third parties through email lists.

AGGREGATE INFORMATION

We collect general, non-personal, statistical information about the use of the Services, such as how many users visit a specific page on our website, how long they stay on that page, and which hyperlinks, if any, they click on. This information represents a generic overview of our Users, including their collective viewing habits, and allows us and other third parties to modify information and improve the Services based on user traffic and behavior. We collect this information through the use of technologies such as “cookies” and web beacons, which are discussed in greater detail below. We collect this information in order to help enhance the Services to make for a better user experience.

THIRD PARTY INFORMATION

We may supplement information you provide to us with information from other sources, such as case summaries from newsletters and databases, information regarding Experts from universities, attorneys with whom the Experts have worked, and other sources. We use this information to help us maintain the accuracy of the information we collect and for internal business analysis or other business purposes consistent with our mission.

COOKIES

CGRS may automatically collect information about you through the use of cookies. You may set your browsers to notify you if you receive a cookie, or you may choose to block cookies with your browser. However, please be aware that some features of our Services may not function or may be slower if you refuse cookies. You may also get cookies from other third parties with links on our website as described below. We do not directly control these cookies.

We may use the services of third parties to collect and use anonymous information about your visits to and interactions with our Services through the use of technologies such as cookies to personalize advertisements for goods and services.

OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

We also collect information from and about the devices you use to access the Services. This includes things like IP addresses, the type of browser and device you use, the web page you visited before coming to our sites, and identifiers associated with your devices. Your devices (depending on their settings) may also transmit location information to the Services.

We also use services hosted by third parties on the Services, such as Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc., to assist in providing the Services. To opt out of tracking by Google Analytics, click here.

DO NOT TRACK

CGRS does not track Users across third-party websites, and does not use or respond to “do not track” signals received from web browsers.

USE OF INFORMATION

The information CGRS collects is used in the following ways:

to provide the Services;
to create and secure your account;
in the case of information about Experts, to disclose such information on the Expert’s profile page on the Services;
in the case of information from Users who submit an asylum case intake form, to provide tailored assistance and materials for their case;
for internal review;
to improve the Services;
to verify the legitimacy of reviews;
to notify you about updates to the Services;
to get reviews;
to communicate with you regarding the Services;
for any purposes identified in the “Submission of Documents, Reviews and Comments” section;
for internal business analysis or other business purposes consistent with our mission; and
to carry out other purposes that are disclosed to you and to which you consent.

DISCLOSURES AND TRANSFERS OF INFORMATION

We may disclose your information to third parties as follows:

we have your permission to make the disclosure;
the disclosure is of information that you have submitted for display on publicly available sections of the Services, such as profile information for your profile page;
the disclosure is consistent with the purpose for which the information was obtained;
the disclosure is to an Expert who is working or has worked on your case;
the disclosure is permitted or required by applicable law or legal process;
the information to be disclosed is otherwise publicly available;
the disclosure is reasonably related to the sale or other disposition of all or part of our business or assets;
the party to whom the disclosure is made controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with CGRS;
the disclosure is to a third party in connection with the sale, transfer or re-organization of some or all of CGRS or its assets, bankruptcy or other business transaction;
the disclosure is in our sole discretion necessary for the establishment or maintenance of legal claims or legal compliance, to satisfy any law, regulation, subpoena or government request, or in connection with litigation, including to enforce any applicable terms of service;
the disclosure is to our professional advisors, such as auditors, law firms or accounting firms;
the disclosure is required to ensure the safety and security of CGRS and/or its Users;
the disclosure is in our sole discretion about Users who we believe are engaged in illegal activities or are in violation of our Terms of Use, even without a subpoena, warrant or court order;
the disclosure is to vendors or service providers, including without limitation email marketing services vendors, IT service management vendors, payment processors and data analytics vendors (“Administrative Service Providers”), including Administrative Service Providers outside the country or jurisdiction in which you reside; or
the disclosure is part of a disclosure of aggregate user data that does not disclose information about you or otherwise identify you.

DATA SECURITY, INTEGRITY, AND ACCESS

The information you provide and we collect about you is stored within databases that we control directly or through our Administrative Service Providers. As we deem appropriate and as required by the applicable law, we use security measures consistent with industry standards, including physical, organizational and technological protections, such as firewalls, to protect your information. However, since no security system is impenetrable, we cannot guarantee the security of our databases, nor can we guarantee that information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet. We recommend that you do not use unsecure channels to communicate sensitive or confidential information to us.

Information about you may only be accessed by persons within our organization, our Administrative Service Providers who require such access to provide you with the services indicated above, or any other party that you have provided us with authorization to share such information with.

Your information may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside of your state, province/territory, or country where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those where you live.

THIRD PARTY WEBSITES AND LINKS

Our Services may contain links to other sites operated by third parties. CGRS does not control such other sites and is not responsible for the privacy or security of these sites, including the accuracy, completeness or reliability of content or information found on these sites. CGRS’s inclusion of such links does not, by itself, imply any endorsement of the content on such sites or of their owners or operators. Any information submitted by you directly to these third parties is subject to that third party’s privacy policy and CGRS is not responsible for their use of your information. CGRS expressly disclaims any and all liability for the actions of third parties, including but without limitation to actions relating to the use and/or disclosure of information about you by or to third parties.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Because many of our cases involve children under the age of 13, we may collect the following information about children under 13 years of age: name, gender, date of birth, country of origin, and address. We do not seek or knowingly collect any personal information about children under 13 years of age other than the categories of information listed above. If we become aware that we have unknowingly collected any other information about a child under the age of 13, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to delete such information from our database.

If you are the parent or guardian of a child under 13 years of age who has provided us with their personal information, you may contact us using the information below to request it be deleted.

HOW TO CONTACT US

Should you have any requests, questions or concerns about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, please contact us by mail or email at the following:

Attn: Deputy Director
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
200 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
E-mail: cgrs@uclawsf.edu

We welcome your questions and comments

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