Privacy & Legal
Statement of the Authority's Legal Obligations
Regarding Public Access to Certain Customer Information
Any information which you submit to the Steamship Authority – whether on paper forms, by the Internet or otherwise – is potentially governed by the Massachusetts Public Records Law (the “Law”). Under the Law, all documents made or received by the Steamship Authority are, with certain exceptions, public records. The laws and regulations addressing access to public records and the specific exemptions from public disclosure are found in Mass. G.L. c. 4, sec. 7 (clause 26th); Mass G.L. c. 66, sec. 10; and 950 C.M.R. 32.00.
Notwithstanding the general requirements of the Law, in June 2003, the Massachusetts Legislature enacted a statute (St. 2003, c. 26, sec. 651) which amended section four of the Steamship Authority's enabling act (St. 1960, c. 701, as amended) expressly to empower the Steamship Authority:
“To maintain the confidentiality of all information relating to specifically named customers using the authority's reservation system including but not limited to, passenger names, home addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, credit and account data and the dates and times of their reservations and sailings. Such information shall not be a public record, although it may be used and disclosed by the authority as necessary in connection with the appropriate conduct of its operations and in connection with law enforcement activities. The authority shall provide to a customer requesting any such information, all information that the authority has pertaining to that customer. The authority shall obtain the express, written consent of a customer before releasing customer information to a third party for commercial or noncommercial purposes.”
Privacy & Security Policy
The Steamship Authority is always conscious and respectful of your privacy. We know you don’t want the information you provide us shared indiscriminately. We are committed to ensuring the privacy of your personally identifiable information, and to protecting your ability to make financial transactions and transmit your personal data with full confidence.
Privacy Policy
Last updated: September 23, 2010
This Privacy Policy will answer your questions about the kinds of information we collect, what we do with it, and what controls you have. We reserve the right to revise this Privacy Policy at any time without prior notice. For this reason, please check regularly for the most recent version of our Privacy Policy. If you have any further questions or comments, contact us using the Contact page.
Registration, Minimum Requirements, and Security
To serve you better, we offer visitors the option to sign up for free email services, all by registering a valid email address. These services are free of charge, entirely optional, and designed to improve your travel experiences with the Steamship Authority.
To administer these services we require a minimum of information from you. Our personalized forms are stored and served from a secure server. This means that each page you view and any information you submit are encrypted on their way between computers (yours and ours). In the unlikely event that the information you send is intercepted, it should not be usable by anyone else. While no computer system is 100 percent secure, the Steamship Authority has taken reasonable steps to ensure the security of any information you provide to our website. Our goal is to offer service while adhering to the best security practices possible; to do so requires your shared cooperation and commitment. Thus, to participate in these optional services you agree to abide by the following terms and conditions:
- All registration information submitted by you is accurate and updated.
- You will not select or use an email address of another person with the intent to impersonate that person.
- You will not use an email address in which another person has rights without that person’s permission.
- You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your security code. (Please know that if you choose to share your email address and security code, you are providing access to your private information.)
What information does the Steamship Authority gather and how is it used?
We automatically collect information about your visits to our sites, such as your “IP Address” used to connect your computer to the Internet, browser type and version, operating system, computer platform, pages accessed on our website and the date and time of access to optimize your user experience and enhance your time spent with us online. We also receive information telling us what site you visited to link to our site.
Importantly, however, the Steamship Authority website pages only collect personally identifiable information from our visitors on a voluntary basis (such as your name, address, email address, telephone number, and/or other identifying information). You should recognize that, under certain circumstances, if you choose not to voluntarily submit requested information, you may not be able to engage in certain activities for which personally identifiable information is needed.
We retain information you voluntarily provide us, such as your name and other personal information including your mailing address, email address and credit card number when appropriate. We may also ask you to voluntarily provide us with information regarding your personal or professional interests, demographics, experience with our service, and contact preferences. We may combine this information with information about you which we gather from other sources. We may use the information to design offers customized to your interests.
If you have provided us with an email address, we may send you email messages related to your transactions with us. We may also send informational or promotional email messages to you, which you may opt out of receiving as described below.
You may contact us by using the Contact page. If you send us an email, we will retain the content of the email, your email address, and our response in order to handle any follow-up questions you may have. We also use this information to measure how effectively we address your concerns. Do not use email to send us any personally identifiable information, since it would be unencrypted and can be read by anyone who receives or intercepts it.
With whom does the Steamship Authority share my personally identifiable information?
We do not sell, exchange or lend your name, email address, or other personally identifiable information to third parties, and do not intend to do so in the future. From time to time we may engage third parties to process your information on our behalf (such as charging your credit card or performing charge verifications); however, we require that these third parties comply with the Steamship Authority’s Privacy & Security Policy or their own appropriate privacy and security policies when processing this information.
We may share with third parties anonymous, aggregated information about all our users. Security regulations of several countries may require us to provide foreign and domestic government agencies with access to data you disclose to us.
We may disclose personally identifiable information to government authorities or to third parties in connection with fraud prevention or investigation, or pursuant to a subpoena, court order, government request, or other legal process, or to the extent we are otherwise required to do so by law. In this regard, any information submitted to the Steamship Authority – whether on paper forms, by email, over the Internet or otherwise – is potentially governed by the Massachusetts Public Records Law (the “Law”). Under the Law, all documents made or received by the Steamship Authority are, with certain exceptions, public records. The laws and regulations addressing access to public records and the specific exemptions from public exposure are found in Mass. G.L. c. 4, § 7, clause 26th; Mass. G.L. c. 66, § 10; and 950 C.M.R. 32.00.
Notwithstanding the general requirements of the Law, the Steamship Authority is empowered under its enabling act (St. 1960, c. 701, § 4, as amended) “[t]o maintain the confidentiality of all information relating to specifically named customers using the authority’s reservations system including, but not limited to, passenger names, home addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, credit and account data and the dates and times of their reservations and sailings. Such information shall not be a public record, although it may be used and disclosed by the authority as necessary in connection with the appropriate conduct of its operations and in connection with law enforcement activities. The authority shall provide to a customer requesting any such information, all information that the authority has pertaining to that customer. The authority shall obtain the express, written consent of a customer before releasing customer information to a third party for commercial or noncommercial purposes.”
Except as stated above, the Steamship Authority will not willfully disclose any personally identifiable information about our online users to any third party without first receiving the individual’s permission.
How does the Steamship Authority use cookies, tags, and similar technologies?
The Steamship Authority uses cookies, tags, and other similar technologies. These technologies allow us to recognize your preference information, keep track of your transactions, remember your Profile number and facilitate effective site administration. We use the information we collect to enhance your visit to our website and provide you with information tailored to your needs. We never use cookies or other files to track your use of other websites.
You may elect to refuse cookies; however, doing so may affect your use of some portions of the Steamship Authority’s web services. Please refer to your browser Help instructions to learn more about cookies.
How does the Steamship Authority comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA)?
We do not knowingly market to or solicit information from children under 13 without parental or guardian consent. If a child under 13 has provided us with personal information without parental or guardian consent, the parent or guardian may email us, and we will remove the information and unsubscribe the child from any promotional contact opportunities. Parents can also be proactive by installing filtering software that gives them more control over their family’s Internet experience.
How do I tell the Steamship Authority that I don’t want to be contacted for promotional purposes?
You may request to be removed from the Steamship Authority’s informational and promotional email subscription lists or designate email preferences by logging in with your email address and security code. If you have questions about removing your name from our subscription lists, you may contact us by using the Contact page.
Online Surveys
From time to time, you may be asked to participate in online surveys on the Steamship Authority’s website. Online surveys are used so that we can gather information to better serve you. Based on the information you provide to us, we may inform you of accounts and services from the Steamship Authority. As always, if you have asked us not to contact you for promotional purposes, your request will be honored. You are not required to complete any online survey.
Email Fraud
Email can be used for sending scams such as a false offer from a company or an alert to a false computer virus. These emails are often forwarded with good intentions by friends, adding an erroneous level of legitimacy. If you receive an email that you think could be a scam, do not forward it. Instead, delete it immediately. If you receive an email warning that a new computer virus is circulating, check the website of any one of the well-known anti-virus software companies for validation.
Emails such as these are most likely from criminals who send thousands of emails at a time to random addresses. These criminals are trying to entice the recipient to visit a phony website and provide personal and confidential information, such as online IDs and passwords, or Social Security numbers and account numbers. To report a suspicious email that uses the Steamship Authority’s name, you can forward it to [email protected].
How do I update personal information such as my address?
We ask that you keep your information as up-to-date as possible so you may get the maximum benefit from steamshipauthority.com. You may log in with your email address and security code to make changes.
Links
This site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those sites, and the Steamship Authority’s Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected from you by those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each site that collects information from you. When you are leaving our site via a link to interact with a site that is not governed by our Privacy Policy, a new browser window will open.
How is my personally identifiable information protected?
For more information on how we secure your transactions, read our Security statement below.
Acceptance of this Privacy Policy
By using this site, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use this site.
Security
Last updated: October 22, 2009
To prevent unauthorized access, disclosure and improper use of your information, and to maintain data accuracy, we have established reasonable physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect the information we collect in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Appropriate employees are authorized to access customer information for Steamship Authority purposes only. Our employees are bound by a code of conduct that requires confidential treatment of customer information and are subject to disciplinary action if they fail to follow this code.