This Privacy and Security Notice applies to the website and related information systems (the “BNL Sites”) maintained by Brookhaven National Laboratory, managed and operated by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC (“BSA”) (together, “BNL” “we” or “us”).

The BNL Sites are maintained through an account of work sponsored by the Department of Energy as part of the United States Government. The BNL Sites comply with federal privacy and information security laws, such as the Privacy Act of 1974 and related guidance, as applicable. The Department of Energy directly or through BNL monitors the BNL Sites for security purposes to ensure it remains available to all users and to protect information in the system. By accessing the BNL Sites, you are expressly consenting to these monitoring activities and the privacy practices described in this Privacy and Security Notice. We reserve the right to change this Privacy and Security Notice at any time, and the current version will be posted at www.bnl.gov.

Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, not any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency, contractor, or subcontractor thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency, contractor or subcontractor thereof. 

Collection of Information

We collect information that may be considered personal information (also, personally identifiable information), as described in this Privacy and Security Notice. We may collect personal information from you when you visit or otherwise interact with the BNL Sites, our facilities, or employees and contractors, or as otherwise disclosed or apparent when you provide the information to us. 

Automatic Collection of Personal Information. When you visit the BNL Sites, we collect and store certain technical information about your visit and interactions with the BNL Sites, including information obtained from cookies—which are a small text file that is placed on your computer or browser when you access the BNL Sites. It allows us to collect basic information about your visit to the BNL Sites, including:

• the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the domain from which you access the Internet (i.e. 123.456.789.012) whether yours individually or provided as a proxy by your Internet Service Provider (ISP);
• a device identifier, such as MAC address;
• the date and time you accessed the BNL Sites;
• the pages you peruse (recorded by the text and graphics files that compose that page); and
• the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to the BNL Sites.

We use the summary statistics to help us make our site more useful to visitors, such as assessing what information is of most and least interest to visitors, and for other purposes such as determining the BNL Sites’ technical design specifications, security needs, and identifying system performance or problem areas.

You have the ability to manage some of the information collected automatically through your individual browser settings, which may allow you to control the information we collect through cookies and other technology. For more information about cookies and how you can manage them, please visit: https://allaboutcookies.org/. For information on how you can manage the security and information collection settings on your browser, please visit: https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/training/tips-stay-safe-while-surfing-web-part-1-web-browser-settings

Information You Provide Voluntarily. We may collect personal information (e.g., email address, name, or phone number) which you expressly and voluntarily provide to us for such purposes as:

• Registering for BNL Sites access;
• Facility use, including events, camps, or conference;
• Volunteer, internship, scholarship, and employment applications;
• Requesting information about BNL, BSA;
• Requesting and obtaining BNL reports; and
• Joining a BNL mailing or email list.

In such cases, we use reasonable efforts to limit the information collected to only the minimum information required to complete your request and use the information for the purposes for which you requested. Please do not provide any personal information that is not requested by BNL.

Use of Information

We typically use the personal information that you provide for the purposes for which it was collected, as described above. We may also use it to provide information to you about BNL activities, review BNL Site usage and operations, address problems with the BNL Sites, help protect security of the BNL Sites, our facilities, and to further the national security interests of the US Government and DOE national laboratories where applicable.

If you do not wish to receive email communication from BNL, you can typically opt-out by selecting the ‘unsubscribe’ link in the footer. To opt-out of other communications or if you have questions or difficulty, you can contact our Privacy Office, as described below.

 Disclosure of Your Personal Information

Personal information that you voluntarily provide to BNL may be handled by BSA staff or subcontracted services providers and vendors of BSA. BSA may also provide your voluntarily submitted information to the US Government, in response to legal actions or court orders or for other valid security purposes, in which case BSA will be unable to notify you. In addition, BSA may give access to your voluntarily provided information through contracts with third parties (e.g., cloud service providers) to provide infrastructure for maintaining its data or other services. In such cases, your personal information may be entrusted to third parties. Although these third parties, if any, are contractually prohibited from using the data for their own purposes; should they do so, neither the US Government nor BSA assumes any liability. We will otherwise not sell or trade your personal information.

Information Security and Disclaimer

Reasonable and best efforts will be used to protect, retain, and properly dispose of personal information you provide in accordance with applicable laws, standards and guidance, but the US Government who owns BNL or its management contractor, BSA, cannot and will not provide any guarantee to the security of any information you provide to or transmit through the BNL Sites.

Links to and Use of External Sites

The BNL Sites may link to websites created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations and individuals. When you follow a link to an external site, you are subject to the external site’s privacy and security policies. We do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information contained on an external site. We also do not endorse the site’s sponsor, any views they express, or any products or services they offer.

BNL may also maintain a presence on third-party websites such as social media sites or video hosting websites. Your activity on those sites is governed by the third-party website’s security and privacy policies.

Children

The BNL Sites are not directed to children, nor do we knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of thirteen without verifiable parental consent. Where children participate in our camps, internships or other educational activities, we may require parental consent to register where appropriate. If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us in error or without authorization, please contact us promptly as described below, and we will endeavor to investigate and delete such information from our systems.

State Privacy Laws

Under applicable law, BNL and the BNL Sites are not subject to state privacy or information security laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act or the New York Shield Act. However, to the extent you have questions about what information the BNL Sites have collected about you and how we use and protect your personal information, please review this Privacy and Security Notice or contact us as described below.

Visitors from Outside the United States—Cross-Border Transfer

The BNL Sites are hosted in the United States. If you are visiting the BNL Sites from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States or other countries in accordance with this Privacy and Security Notice. The data protection and other applicable laws of the United States or other countries may differ from the data protection or consumer protection laws in your country. Your information may be available to government authorities under lawful orders and law applicable in the United States. By using the BNL Sites and/or providing personal information to us, you consent to the transfer of your information to the BNL Sites and use as described in this Privacy and Security Notice.

Unauthorized Access

Unauthorized attempts to defeat or circumvent security features, to use the system for other than intended purposes, to deny service to authorized users, to access, obtain, alter, damage, or destroy information, or otherwise to interfere with the system or its operation are prohibited. Evidence of such acts may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities and result in criminal prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-474) and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-294), (18 U.S.C. 1030), or other applicable criminal laws.

Questions, Concerns and Access to or Modification of Your Personal Information

If you have questions about BNL’s use of your personal information, including questions about access to or modification of your personal information, or any complaints, please contact our Privacy Office at [email protected].

Effective Date: July 26, 2024