Privacy Statement
Effective July 13, 2004; last revised date January 6, 2022
Rand.org is operated and maintained by the RAND Corporation. RAND is a U.S.-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that provides objective analysis and effective solutions to public policy challenges that impact people around the world.
RAND is committed to protecting your privacy and providing a safe and rewarding online experience. This Privacy Policy describes our policies and procedures for the collection of personally identifiable information (“personal information”) by RAND, and our use and dissemination of such information on our websites including rand.org and PRGS.edu. Visitors looking for more information on RAND Europe's compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will want to read RAND Europe's Privacy Statement.
Privacy Principles
Because your privacy is important to us, we will operate by the following principles of Notice, Choice, Security, and Reasonable Access. Users seeking additional information regarding the principles may provide feedback.
NOTICE
RAND explicitly asks when it needs any personal information from you. You can visit our site and download documents without disclosing information such as your name or address.
RAND collects information in the following categories, depending upon purpose or need:
- Contact information
- Shipping information
- Billing information
- Demographics
When you make a purchase, we use your credit card number only to process your order(s). We do not give your credit card number to third parties except as necessary to process your order. Under their agreements with us, these third-party partners may not share, store, or use your personal information for any secondary purposes, except in limited circumstances, such as responding to a court order.
If necessary to achieve the purpose for which your personal information was submitted, or if you give your consent, RAND may use your personal information to operate its site and provide services, to communicate with you regarding your RAND account(s), to fulfill orders and requests, to allow participation in voluntary activities (such as discussion forums), or to compile general demographic statistics.
CHOICE
RAND uses personal information collected on this site only for the purpose for which it was submitted by you. At the time of collection, we may ask whether you will permit RAND to use your personal information in other ways. For example, we may ask you whether you would like to receive certain information and email from RAND or its service partners, or if you wish to participate in demographic surveys. Unless you specifically consent to such use, RAND will use your information only for the purpose for which it was submitted.
If you elect to subscribe to RAND e-newsletters or policy alerts to stay informed of recent work, RAND will not send you commercial offers, or advertisements, or share your data without your consent. To unsubscribe from a RAND email list, use the unsubscribe link provided in the email, or manage your existing subscriptions from our newsletters page. If at any time you would like to be removed from our physical mailing list (e.g., to receive printed catalogs), please contact order@rand.org or write RAND Distribution Services at the address below.
If RAND decides to change this privacy policy, we will post those revisions on this page so that our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and the circumstances, if any, under which we disclose it. If at any point RAND decides to use personal information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify users by email. Users will have a choice as to whether or not RAND uses their information in this different manner. RAND will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.
SECURITY
RAND and the third-party service providers it uses have established and maintain reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information collected by our websites. RAND will disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to conform with applicable laws, or to comply with legal process served on you, RAND, or the site.
For more information or to request data deletion, you may contact RAND's Data Protection Officer at randdpo@rand.org.
REASONABLE ACCESS
RAND offers a modest ability to create an online account where you may log in to access, review and update your email subscription settings for a variety of RAND newsletters and email alerts associated with your email address. You may unsubscribe at any time.
RAND does not currently maintain a comprehensive online database of full personal information you may have provided to RAND through other channels. If you wish to access, review or update personal information that you have provided to RAND (such as a change in mailing address or billing information), please provide online feedback, call (310) 393-0411, or write to RAND, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA, 90407-2138.
For more information about our privacy statement, see Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) below.
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, terms of use for this site, or the practices of RAND, please provide online feedback, call (310) 393-0411, or write to RAND, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA, 90407-2138.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How does RAND use personal information?
Generally, RAND uses your personal information to operate the site and to deliver our services. For example, if you place an order for a RAND publication, RAND will ask for personal information needed to process your order, such as your address. RAND may provide other companies access to your personal information only insofar as needed to provide routine services, such as credit card processing or shipping your order.
RAND may use your email address to respond to incoming service requests from you. We may also provide you with information about new content or products that may interest you. For information about being removed from RAND mailing lists, please see the principle regarding CHOICE.
How does RAND use the demographic data you may provide?
RAND may request demographic information or profile data when you register for an account, or participate in online surveys. Your provision of this information is strictly voluntary and is used to tailor our products or services to better meet the needs of rand.org visitors. This demographic information is not shared with third parties except as required by law. From time to time, RAND may also collect demographic data as a component of our research undertakings. However, we will not gather such data without your knowledge or consent.
Does RAND share personal information with other companies?
RAND does not share your personal information except with partners who assist in providing services or products associated with rand.org. Without this relationship, RAND could not provide its service to you. Under their agreements with us, these third-party partners may not share or use personal information for any secondary purposes except in limited circumstances, such as responding to a court order.
Is your order secure?
RAND, our internet service provider (ISP), and other service providers have taken every reasonable step to ensure you have a safe experience online. Your credit card orders are processed over a secure platform using encryption technology. RAND has established and maintains reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information collected by this site. For your protection, credit card information is not retained by RAND after we process publication orders; you will need to resubmit it for subsequent orders.
How does this apply to links that you find on the RAND site?
Rand.org occasionally includes links to other sites. RAND will take every reasonable step to ensure that links provide a pleasing online experience, but RAND is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
What about cookies and non-personally identifiable information?
Cookies are used by many websites to understand how the site is being used and to improve the visitor experience in various ways. Cookies are small bits of website information stored on your computer or device by your browser software. rand.org may require you to enable cookies to fully benefit from some services. The cookie itself does not contain any personally identifiable information, and RAND does not use cookies to obtain such information. RAND does not save credit card information in cookies.
When a visitor comes to rand.org, RAND servers will request a digital cookie(s) be placed on the visitors computer. If the visitors browser is set to accept these cookies, RAND will track, among other things, which pages were visited, the order in which they were visited, and which hyperlinks, if any, were clicked. Our analytics partners also record data including the visitor's IP address, operating system (e.g., Windows or macOS), browser software (e.g., Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer), and internet service provider (e.g., Comcast, Verizon). Although these data are not personally identifiable information on their own, they can be used to determine the approximate geographic location of a visitor's point of connectivity to the internet.
RAND uses non-personally identifiable information and information obtained through the use of cookies to improve the site. By tracking how many people visit rand.org and where visitors go on rand.org, we are able to determine which parts of the site users like the best, which parts need improvement, and what changes should be made. By obtaining this information, we are able to continually improve rand.org and bring you the best online experience possible.
How can you contact us?
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, RAND's practices, or your experience with our web presence, please provide online feedback, call (310) 393-0411, or write to RAND, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138.
About This Site About RAND