General Agreements on Community Standards and Privacy Policy

 

Thank you for visiting the MABest.org website (“MABest.org”). The Business Enterprise Systems Transformation Program (“Program”) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of visitors to this website. The following privacy policy applies only to the use of MABest.org.

 

At MABest.org, we endeavor to protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible. However, because all of the information that we receive through MABest.org is subject to the Public Records Law, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66, Section 10, we cannot ensure absolute privacy. Information that you provide to us through MABest.org may be provided to members of the public under that law.

 

Public records requests should be submitted through the Office of the Comptroller’s Next Request portal, located here: https://macomptroller.nextrequest.com/

 

Personal Information

 

We use the term “personal information”  as identified in MGL c. 93H, s. 1 and MGL c. 93I, s.

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Voluntarily Provided Information

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MABest.org collects voluntary information from you through surveys, online forms, any e-mails sent to MABest.org and comments posted on pages hosted by MABest.org. All such information, including comments and emails sent by you to MABest.org may contain personally identifiable information.

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Information Collected and Stored Automatically

 

The following information is stored for visitors to MABest.org: the Internet address from which you access MABest.org, date and time, the Internet address of the website from which you linked to MABest.org, the name of the file or words you searched, items clicked on a page, and the browser and operating system used.

 

This information is used to measure the number of visitors to the various sections of our site and identify system performance or problem areas. We also use this information to help us develop the site, analyze patterns of usage, and to make the site more useful.  This information is NOT used for associating search terms or patterns of site navigation with individual users. MABest.org periodically deletes or updates its Web logs but backups of the front-facing website are stored for retrieval if necessary.  

 

Dissemination of Your Personally Identifiable Information

 

We do not sell any personally identifiable information collected through MABest.org or submitted to the Program in conjunction with using functions on MABest.org, and there is no online public access to the information. However, documents submitted to MABest.org become public records and will be disclosed pursuant to the Commonwealth’s Public Records Law. For more information on the types of records that are exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Law, please read the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. 

 

Information that you voluntarily submit will also be disclosed to Program employees or officials, or those under contract with the Program, who need this information to fulfill their job responsibilities. The information will be used for such purposes as: answering your questions; responding to requests for assistance; generating summary statistics about usage; auditing applications and detecting fraud; aiding in the planning, design and development of MABest.org; and fulfilling the Program’s legal obligations.

 

We will collect and aggregate the information you provide through surveys and through MABest.org’s collection of non-personally identifying analytics data for purposes of market research to improve the offerings by making them more responsive to customer needs. Where appropriate, we may provide the information you submitted voluntarily through an email to the person or company that is the subject of your inquiry, or to a government agency responsible for the matters referenced in your communication.

 

Your Access and Opportunity to Correct

 

The Massachusetts Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act provide you with certain rights to obtain information about you that is in our records. To learn more about how to access records or correct information in our database, please see M.G.L. c. 66A (the “Fair Information Practices Act”) and 940 CMR 11 and the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law.

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Security

 

Because information sent to the Program is not encrypted, you should not send messages containing information that you consider highly sensitive to MABest.org. We use standard security measures to ensure that information provided by you, including your personally identifiable information, is not lost, misused, altered, or unintentionally destroyed. We also use software to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.

 

External Links

 

MABest.org may contain links to websites created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations. MABest.org provides these links as a service to our users. When users link to an outside website, they are leaving the MABest.org site and are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website(s). You are encouraged to familiarize yourself with these policies.

 

Prohibitions

 

MABest.org will not link to any website that exhibits hate, bias, or discrimination. MABest.org reserves the right to deny or remove any link that contains misleading information or unsubstantiated claims, or is determined to be in conflict with Commonwealth policies.

 

Changes to this Policy

 

The MABest.org privacy policy will be revised or updated if practices change, or if better ways to keep you informed are developed. You should refer to this page often for the latest information and the effective date of any changes. If changes are made to this policy, a new policy will be posted on our site and the date at the bottom of the page will be updated.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.