Privacy Policy for Stepgreen
Stepgreen is an experimental platform for studying software support for successful social communities, persuasive systems, and sustainability. We have created this privacy statement to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this site.
Server LoggingTo accomplish our research, we need to monitor how people use the Stepgreen interfaces. This includes recording when each user logs in, what pages the user requests, what actions the user commits to or fulfills, what predictions the user is shown, and what social networks the user displays their progress on, among others.
We represent users anonymously as numeric identifiers whenever possible, so that researchers do not know the real identity of the users in the data they are studying. However, we must store a mapping from email addresses to anonymous identifiers for the purpose of authenticating users at login, and resolving account issues such as forgotten passwords.
CookiesWhen you use the Stepgreen system, we administer one or more browser cookies. These help identify you and store your preferences. They are not shared with other sites and are not used for advertisements.
Data CollectionWhen you register to use Stepgreen, we ask you to supply the following information: Your e-mail address, a login name of your choosing, and a password. You may opt out of receiving emails from us. You may modify this additional information and review your privacy settings at any time by clicking "My Stepgreen" when logged in to Stepgreen.
Once you are a registered member of Stepgreen, we ask you record actions that you plan to take, and tell us when you take them. This data is used to project your financial and CO2 savings, and to make predictions about what actions may appeal to you.
Your action history may be made visible to other users of the Stepgreen site, labeled with your username, but no other identifying information. Additionally, if you choose to install a plug in such as the Facebook plugin we provide, visitors to that site will be able to see your action history.
We occasionally run contests, conduct interviews or surveys, and/or implement additional features for the purpose of our research. Participation in these "extras" may require us to ask for contact information (such as email address) or additional data. This privacy statement does not cover such additional activities. A specific privacy statement will be made clearly available for each activity not covered under this statement, and participation in such activities will be made optional.
User ContactWhen you register to use Stepgreen, we ask for your permission to send you occasional email updates. On limited occasions, we may send e-mail messages to you announcing new features, explaining changes to the system, or inviting you to participate in special opportunities. If at a later time you decide you do not wish to receive these emails you may indicate this by following the directions in the opt-out section below.
Third PartiesStepgreen does not release e-mail addresses to any third parties. We may share your demographic data (without your name or e-mail address attached) in research results. Furthermore, we may refer to the actions of individual users (without your name or e-mail address attached) in research results. Aside from the above, information is held as confidential as is practical within our database.
Security MeasuresMembers of our research group are made aware of our privacy policy and practices by reviewing this statement upon joining the team. User data is password protected and access to the database is limited to members of the research group.
Opt-OutIf at any time you choose to no longer receive emails from the Stepgreen team, you may indicate this by sending an email to stepgreen@cs.cmu.edu or (preferably) by clicking "My Stepgreen" when logged in to Stepgreen.
Due to the way in which we archive data, it is generally not possible for us to completely remove your personal data from our systems. However, if you have specific concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will see what we can do.
You can view the consent form for Stepgreen here
