NSIN.MIL Privacy Policy

Version February 28, 2023

NSIN.MIL (“NSIN.MIL”, “we”, or “us”), a platform of the National Security Innovation Network (“NSIN”), which is an initiative of the United States Department of Defense from the Defense Innovation Unit (“DIU”), is designed to enable innovation by supporting conversations and collaborations among our registered users (“Members”) to support national security innovation (the “Services”).

We protect your personal information using industry-standard safeguards. We may share your information with your consent or as required by law, and we will always let you know when we make significant changes to this Privacy Policy. Maintaining your trust is our top priority, so we adhere to the following principles to protect your privacy:

We protect your personal information and will only provide it to third parties: (1) with your consent; (2) where it is necessary to carry out your instructions; (3) as reasonably necessary in order to provide our features and functionality to you; (4) when we reasonably believe it is required by law, subpoena or other legal process; or (5) as necessary to enforce our User Agreement or protect the rights, property, or safety of NSIN.MIL, its Members, and the public.

We have implemented appropriate security safeguards designed to protect your information in accordance with industry standards.

We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time, and if we make material changes to it, we will provide notice through our Service, or by other means so that you may review the changes before you continue to use our Services. If you object to any changes, you may terminate your registration. Continuing to use our Services after we publish or communicate a notice about any changes to this Privacy Policy means that you are consenting to the changes.

Please note that certain parts of NSIN.MIL may have separate terms of use and privacy policies (“Special Rules”), which will govern your use of those parts of NSIN.MIL. In the event that there is a conflict between the Special Rules and this Privacy Policy or the NSIN.MIL User Agreement, the Special Rules shall govern.

What Information We Collect

Our Privacy Policy applies to any Member. We collect information when you use our Services to offer you a personalized and relevant experience, including growing your network and enabling business opportunities. The personal information provided to or collected by our Services is controlled by the United States Department of Defense. If you have any concern about providing information to us or having such information displayed on our Services or otherwise used in any manner permitted in this Privacy Policy and the User Agreement, you should not become a Member, visit NSIN.MIL, or otherwise use our Services. If you have already registered, you can terminate your registration(s).

How We Collect Information

Registration – When you register with us, we collect information (including your name and email address). To register with NSIN.MIL, you must provide us with at least your name and email address, as well as agree to our User Agreement and this Privacy Policy, which governs how we treat your information. You may provide additional information during the registration flow to help you build your registration and to provide you more customized services. You understand that, by registering, we and others will be able to identify you by your NSIN.MIL registration.

Customer Service – We collect information when you contact us for customer support. If you are logged in on NSIN.MIL or one of our cookies on your device identifies you, your usage information and the log data described in this Privacy Policy, such as your IP address, will be associated by us with your registration. Even if you’re not logged into a Service, we log information about devices used to access our Services, including IP address.

Cookies – We use measurement and customization technology known as a “Cookies.” These Cookies are used to remember a Member’s online interactions with NSIN.MIL in order to conduct measurement and analysis of usage or to customize the Member’s experience. There are two kinds of Cookies used on NSIN.MIL. A single-session Cookie (Tier 1) is a line of text that is stored temporarily on a Member’s computer and deleted as soon as the browser is closed. A persistent or multi-session Cookie (Tier 2) is saved to a file on a Member’s hard drive and is called up the next time that user visits a website. Use of these Cookies does not involve the collection of a Member’s personal identification information (PII). NSIN.MIL does not use the information associated with Cookies to track individual user activity on the Internet, nor does it share the data obtained through such technologies, unless otherwise provided under the User Agreement or this Privacy Policy, nor does it keep a database of information obtained from the use of Cookies. You can control Cookies through your browser settings and other tools. By visiting our Services, you consent to the placement of Cookies and beacons in your browser and HTML-based emails in accordance with this Privacy Policy. For reference, opting out of Cookies still permits Members to access comparable information and services; however, it may take longer to navigate or interact with the NSIN.MIL website if a Member is required to fill out certain information repeatedly.

Log Files, IP Addresses, and Information About Your Computer and Mobile Device – We collect information from the devices and networks that you use to access our Services. When you visit or leave our Services by clicking a hyperlink or when you view a third-party site that includes our plugin or cookies (or similar technology), we automatically receive the URL of the site from which you came or the one to which you are directed. We also receive the internet protocol (“IP”) address of your computer or the proxy server that you use to access the web, your computer operating system details, your type of web browser, your mobile device (including your mobile device identifier provided by your mobile device operating system), your mobile operating system (if you are accessing NSIN.MIL using a mobile device), and the name of your ISP or your mobile carrier.

Other Collection Methods – In addition, we are constantly innovating to improve our Services, which means we may create new ways to collect information on the Services. Our Services are a dynamic, innovative environment, which means we are always seeking to improve the Services we offer you. We often introduce new features, some of which may result in the collection of new information. If we start collecting substantially new types of personal information and materially change how we handle your data, we will modify this Privacy Policy and notify you in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

How We Use Your Personal Information

Registration – By providing personal information to us when you create or update your registration, you are expressly and voluntarily accepting the terms and conditions of our User Agreement and freely accepting and agreeing to our processing of your personal information in ways set out by this Privacy Policy. You can withdraw or modify your consent to our collection and processing of the information you provide at any time, in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and the User Agreement, by changing your registration settings through our NSIN.MIL support team or by terminating your NSIN.MIL registration.

Our Communications – We may communicate with you using internal NSIN.MIL messaging, email, and other ways available to us. We may send you messages relating to the availability of the Services, security, or other service-related issues.

Member Communications – From time to time, we may allow you to send certain communications on our Services. In this event, the recipient may be able to see your name, email address, and some network information.

Service Development & Customized Experience – We use the information and content you provide to us to conduct research and development and to customize your experience and try to make it relevant and useful to you. We use information and content that you and other Members provide to us to conduct research and development for the improvement of our Services in order to provide you and other Members and other visitors with a better, more intuitive experience and drive membership growth and engagement on our Services and to help connect professionals to economic opportunity. We also customize your experience and the experiences of others on our Services.

Analytics – We currently use a tool called “Google Analytics” to collect information about use of this site. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit NSIN.MIL, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to NSIN.MIL. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve NSIN.MIL. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit NSIN.MIL, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information. Although Google Analytics plants a permanent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit NSIN.MIL, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to NSIN.MIL is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use (as amended for government websites) and the Google Privacy Policy. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to NSIN.MIL by disabling cookies on your browser.

Sharing Information with Third Parties

Any information you use for your registration and any content you post on NSIN.MIL may be seen by others. We don’t provide any of your non-public information (like your email address) to third parties without your consent, unless stated under this Privacy Policy, required by law, or our belief that it is reasonably necessary to: (1) comply with a legal requirement or process, including, but not limited to, civil and criminal subpoenas, court orders or other compulsory disclosures; (2) enforce this Privacy Policy or our User Agreement; (3) respond to claims of a violation of the rights of third parties; (4) respond to Member service inquiries; or (5) protect the rights, property, or safety of NSIN.MIL, our Services, our Members, or the public.

We do employ third parties to help us with the Services. These third parties have limited access to your information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated to NSIN.MIL not to disclose or use it for other purposes.

We don’t share any of your personal information with third parties for direct marketing.

Communities

You are responsible for any information you post on our Services, and this content may be accessible to others, depending on whether the information is posted in public or private portions of NSIN.MIL. If you participate in NSIN.MIL Communities, you should be aware that any information you choose to disclose using these Services can be read, collected, and used by other Members in these NSIN.MIL Communities. We are not responsible for the information you choose to submit in these forums. Your NSIN.MIL Communities contributions are typically searchable on our Services and some content in NSIN.MIL Communities may be public and searchable on the Internet if NSIN.MIL Communities have not been made private.

We may disclose your personal information if compelled by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or if necessary to enforce our User Agreement. It is possible that we may need to disclose personal information, registration information, or information about your activities on NSIN.MIL when required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or if we have a good faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (1) investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or to assist government enforcement agencies; (2) enforce the User Agreement, investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, or protect the security or integrity of our Service; or (3) exercise or protect the rights, property, or safety of NSIN.MIL, our Members, personnel, or others. We attempt to notify Members about legal demands for their personal information when appropriate in our judgment, unless prohibited by law or court order or when the request is an emergency. In light of our principles, we may dispute such demands when we believe, in our discretion, that the requests are overbroad, vague or lack proper authority, but do not commit to challenge every demand.

Rights to Access, Correct, or Delete Your Information, and Terminating Your Registration

You can change your NSIN.MIL information at any time by editing your registration, deleting content that you have posted, or by terminating your registration. You can also ask us for additional information we may have about your registration. You have a right to (1) access, modify, correct, or delete your personal information controlled by NSIN.MIL regarding your registration, (2) change or remove your content, and (3) terminate your registration. If you terminate your registration(s), your information will generally be removed from the Service within 24 hours. We generally delete closed registration information and will de-personalize any logs or other backup information through the deletion process within 30 days of registration termination, except as noted below.

Data Retention

We keep your information for as long as your registration is active or as needed. For example, we may keep certain information even after you terminate your registration if it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, prevent fraud and abuse, or enforce this agreement. We retain the personal information you provide while your registration is in existence or as needed to provide you services. We may retain your personal information even after you have closed your registration if retention is reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations, meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes between Members, prevent fraud and abuse, or enforce this Privacy Policy and our User Agreement. We may retain personal information, for a limited period of time, if requested by law enforcement.

Safe Harbor

We comply with the U.S.-E.U. and U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Frameworks as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal data from European Union member countries and Switzerland. We have certified that it adheres to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, or to the Privacy Policy, we will provide notice to you on the Services or by some other means, such as email. Please review the changes carefully. If you agree to the changes, simply continue to use our Services. If you object to any of the changes to our terms and you no longer wish to use our Services, you may terminate your registration(s). Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all information that we have about you and your registration. Using our Services after a notice of changes has been communicated to you or published on our Services shall constitute consent to the changed terms or practices.

Security

We take privacy and security seriously and have enabled HTTPS access to our site (turn on HTTPS), in addition to existing SSL access over mobile devices. Also, please know that the Internet is not a secure environment. We have implemented security safeguards designed to protect the personal information that you provide in accordance with industry standards. To protect any data you store on our servers, we also regularly monitor our system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks, and we use a tier-one secured-access data center. However, since the Internet is not a 100% secure environment, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information that you transmit to us. There is no guarantee that information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. It is your responsibility to protect the security of your login information. Please note that emails, instant messaging, and similar means of communication with other Members are not encrypted, and we strongly advise you not to communicate any confidential information through these means.

Questions or to Contact Us

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us via email at: [email protected] or by physical mail at: National Security Innovation Network, 2121 Crystal Drive, Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22202 USA.

NSIN.MIL Privacy Policy – Version February 28, 2023