Maintaining the privacy of your information is important to The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (collectively “NCMEC,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) is designed to provide information about how NCMEC collects, uses, maintains, discloses, and safeguards information about visitors and users of our Take It Down website (“Site”). For information about NCMEC’s general privacy practices or about NCMEC, please visit our main website.
You can access specific topics within this Privacy Policy by clicking on the relevant links below:
How NCMEC Collects Information
How NCMEC Discloses Information to Third Parties
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Third Parties and Links to Other Websites
Changes to This Privacy Policy
INFORMATION NCMEC COLLECTS
We do not knowingly collect your identifiable information on this Site.
HOW NCMEC COLLECTS INFORMATION
When you submit a hashed version of an image to us, that hash is assigned a unique digital fingerprint that does not include identifiable information. We will not and are not able to view the image based on the hashed version of the image that you submit. Additionally, when you submit the hashed version of an image to us, we have access to the image’s file name. For that reason, we recommend that you do not include any identifiable information, such as your name or date of birth, in your file name. We may also collect limited information about your interactions with the website through the use of cookies. For further information on our use of cookies, please see the section below entitled “Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies.”
HOW NCMEC USES AND PROCESSES INFORMATION
NCMEC will only use your information for the purposes described on this Site, which is generally to assist with the removal of explicit images from the internet. We do not knowingly collect identifiable information from users; to the extent that you submit your identifiable information to NCMEC through a file name, that identifiable information will be processed for the limited purposes identified within this Policy.
HOW NCMEC DISCLOSES INFORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES
NCMEC may disclose information to the following third parties:
- Third Party Sites. As part of the process for removing your hashed image from the internet, we share the hashed image with third party platforms that have agreed to use hashed images to scan their public or unencrypted sites and apps for the hashed images for the purpose of removing them from that third party’s platform. You may learn more information about these participating platforms by clicking here.
- Service Providers. We may disclose your hashed image to service providers. Among other things, service providers may help us to administer our Site, conduct surveys, provide technical support, process payments, and assist in the fulfillment of orders.
- Law Enforcement. We may disclose your hashed image in response to subpoenas, warrants, or court orders, or in connection with any legal process or to comply with relevant laws. We may also disclose your hashed image in order to establish or exercise our rights, to defend against a legal claim, to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding possible illegal activities, suspected fraud, safety of person or property, or a violation of our policies.
COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Without essential cookies, the website will not perform as smoothly as we would like it to, and we may not be able to provide the services that you request. We use essential cookies, which are sometimes referred to as “strictly necessary” cookies and are required for the operation of this site. The essential cookies used on this Site are configured in such a way as to not collect identifiable information about you.
We do not use behavioral advertising or other types of cookies on our website to collect your identifiable information. For that reason, we do not respond to “Do Not Track” settings or other related mechanisms, such as opt-out preference signals, at this time.
SECURITY
We take commercially reasonable steps to protect information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Please understand, however, that no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our databases, nor can we guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to and from us over the internet.
RETENTION
We retain information about you and your use of our Site for as long as is needed to fulfill our legitimate business purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. The specific periods for which we keep information vary depending on the nature of the information and why we need it. We also consider the minimum necessary retention period prescribed by applicable laws, recommended by industry standards, and stated in contracts and other legal obligations.
CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
This Site does not collect identifiable information about anyone, including from children under the age of 13. If you believe that we have inadvertently collected your identifiable information or identifiable information about another minor, please contact us at 1-800-843-5678.
THIRD PARTIES AND LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
Our Site may contain links to websites, content, or services owned or operated by third parties. Please note, we have no control over the privacy practices of websites or services that we do not own. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party website or application for details about what information is collected and how it is used and/or disclosed.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices, technology, legal requirements, and other factors. When changes are made to this Privacy Policy, they will become effective immediately upon posting. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for the latest information on our information processing practices. To the extent that our Privacy Policy changes in a material way, the Privacy Policy that was in place at the time that you submitted information to us will generally govern that information unless we receive your consent (express or implied) to the new Privacy Policy where and as required by applicable law.
CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions regarding the Privacy Policy, please contact NCMEC’s Office of Legal Counsel at The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 333 John Carlyle St, Suite 125, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; telephone number 800-843-5678; legal@ncmec.org.
This Privacy Policy includes an “effective” and “last updated” date. The effective date refers to the date that the current version took effect. The last updated date refers to the date that the current version was last substantively modified.
Effective Date. December 30, 2022
Last Updated Date. December 30, 2022