Your privacy is one of our top priorities. The following policy applies only to
the use of the http://www.mass.gov/massmedboard website. As you navigate the site, you will see
links that, when clicked, will take you to other websites operated by state agencies.
These websites have individual privacy policies tailored to the interactions available
through each site. You may also see links that will take you to websites external
to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. We strongly suggest that
you read the privacy policies for each website that you visit, and any external
site that you visit through a link appearing at this site.
A Privacy Partnership. Your privacy with respect to the use of the http://www.mass.gov/massmedboard
results from a partnership between the Commonwealth and you, the user. At this website,
we attempt to protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible. However, because
some of the information that we receive through this website 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 this site may be made available to members
of the public under that law. This policy informs you of the information that we
collect from you at this site, what we do with it, to whom it may be disseminated,
and how you can access it. Based on this information, you can make an informed decision
about your use of this site. You can maximize the benefits of your privacy partnership
with the Commonwealth by making informed decisions about whether to share personally
identifiable information with us through this site.
Personally Identifiable Information. We use the term "personally
identifiable information" to mean any information that could reasonably be used
to identify you, including your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address,
Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information,
or any combination of information that could be used to identify you.
Information Voluntarily Provided by You. This site collects voluntary
information from you through surveys and e-mails.
Survey and E-mail. This site collects voluntary information from you through
surveys posted on the site and through any e-mail messages you choose to send to
http://www.mass.gov/massmedboard. Surveys may collect personally identifiable information you voluntarily
submit, such as name, e-mail address or phone number, so that we may contact you
for follow up to your question, concern or recommendation. Any e-mail messages sent
by you to this site will contain personally identifiable information such as your
e-mail address and any other information you choose to give us to help us answer
your inquiry.
Information Automatically Collected and Stored by this Site. This website
does not use permanent "cookies". However, the site uses temporary "session cookies"
to allow visitors to interact with the site and to use online applications. "Session
cookies" do not allow us to personally identify a visitor. These cookies are stored
only in memory and are deleted when the user's browser is shut down.
This site does collect and store your "Internet Protocol ("IP") address," (which
does not identify you as an individual) indefinitely, as well as information about
the date and time of your visit, whether a file you have requested exists, and how
many "bytes" of information were transmitted to you over the Web from this site.
We use your IP address to assess the frequency of visits to this site and the popularity
of its various pages and functions. We will not attempt to match any personally
identifiable information that you provide to us with your IP address, unless there
are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would provide information that is
relevant and material to a criminal investigation.
Dissemination of Your Personally Identifiable Information. There is no direct
or online public access to the personally identifiable information you provide.
However, once you voluntarily submit personally identifiable information to us related
to your use of the website, its dissemination is governed by the
"Public Records Law," the
"Fair Information Practices Act (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66A)",
"Executive Order 504", and
other applicable laws and regulations. For this reason, part or all of the information
you send us may be provided to a member of the public in response to a public records
request. There are pieces of information, such as credit card numbers, TIN, username,
or password that are not considered public for the purposes of a public records
request. For more information on types of data exempted from disclosure under the
Public Records Law, please read the
Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Public Records Law.
In addition, the information that you voluntarily submit will be disclosed only
to Commonwealth employees or officials, or those under contract with the Commonwealth,
with a "need to know" for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. The
information will be used for such purposes as; answering your questions, responding
to any requests for assistance, generating summary statistics about usage, auditing
applications and detecting fraud, aiding in the planning, design and development
of http://www.mass.gov/massmedboard, and fulfilling the Commonwealth's legal obligations.
We will collect and aggregate the information you provide through surveys for purposes
of market research to improve this site by making it more responsive to customer
needs. Where appropriate, we may provide the information submitted by you through
an e-mail to the person or company that is the subject of your inquiry, or to a
government agency responsible for the matters referred to in your communication.
Your Access and Opportunity to Correct. The
"Public Records Law" and the
"Fair Information Practices Act" provide you certain rights to get information
about you that is in our records. To learn more about the circumstances under which
you can get and correct this information, please click on the above references to
these laws.
Security. Because e-mail sent to the Commonwealth is not encrypted, you should
not send messages containing information that you consider highly sensitive to this
website. 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.
Special Protections Against Misuse Of Personally Identifiable Information Within
Commonwealth Offices. In 2008, then Governor Deval Patrick issued Executive Order 504,
which enhanced the privacy protection given to information about you as a named individual
held by the Executive Department of state government. Executive Order 504 limits the collection
and dissemination of personally identifiable information within the Executive Department and
requires Executive Department agencies to greatly enhance the security and integrity of such data.
This website complies with Executive Order 504.
Policy changes. We will post substantive changes to this policy at least 30
days before they take effect. Any information we collect under the current privacy
policy will remain subject to the terms of this policy. After any changes take effect,
all new information we collect, if any, will be subject to the new policy.
Contact Information. For questions about your privacy while using this website,
please contact the Board at borim.info@state.ma.us
Definitions:
Cookies are files that a website can place on your computer. A cookie file
contains unique information that a website can use to track such things as your
password, lists of Web pages you have visited, and the date when you last looked
at a specific Web page, or to identify your session at a particular website. A cookie
file allows the website to recognize you as you click through pages on the site
and when you later revisit the site. A website can use cookies to "remember" your
preferences, and to record your browsing behavior on the Web. Although you can prevent
websites from placing cookies on your computer by using your browser's preference
menu, disabling cookies may affect your ability to view or interact with some websites.
An "Internet Protocol Address" or "IP Address" is a series of numbers that
identifies each computer and machine connected to the Internet. An IP address enables
a server on a computer network to send you the file that you have requested on the
Internet. The IP address disclosed to us may identify the computer from which you
are accessing the Internet, or a server owned by your Internet Service Provider.
Because it is machine-specific, rather than person-specific, an IP address is not,
in and of itself, personally identifiable information