The Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds maintains this internet site to provide information about retirement, insurance, disability, and other Wisconsin Retirement System benefits administered by ETF. To operate this site, ETF collects information about how the Internet site is used. The purpose of this privacy notice is to demonstrate ETF’s commitment to protecting your privacy when you access the ETF website and let you know what types of information ETF collects, why it is collected, and how it is used.

Voluntary Disclosure

You may provide your personal information to ETF voluntarily by sending an email or initiating an online transaction, such as a survey or online form. The voluntary disclosure of this information, whether solicited or unsolicited, constitutes consent to the collection and disclosure of the information for the purposes for which it was disclosed to ETF, as was reasonably ascertainable from the nature and terms of the disclosure, including collection for the disclosure for the purpose of validating the identity of the user.

How We Use Information

ETF utilizes several third-party commercial services to collect anonymous data about site usage. ETF contractually owns this data and  will not sell or share the information you provide to external parties.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files placed on your computer’s hard drive by a website that you visit. To offer and provide a customized website experience, ETF may use cookies to store and track information about your visit to the ETF website. These technologies help ETF better understand user behavior to improve the customer experience. For example, a session cookie is used to temporarily store the information you enter into ETF’s  Retirement Benefits Calculator. You can opt out of cookie collection in browser settings or configurations, if preferred.

Website Statistics

ETF utilizes products such as AWStats, Google Analytics, and Hotjar to collect website statistics, such as page visits. These sites use web browser cookies to track how users  navigate the site. The data collected never includes names, usernames, or email addresses. Individual IP addresses are collected, but they are not associated with individual users other than as noted above. For more information on these tools, please visit Google’s analytics website, Hotjar support, or AWStats.

Information We Collect

ETF collects certain information to improve the value of the materials available on the ETF website. Excluding any personal information you provide to ETF voluntarily, the data is not personally identifiable, and ETF makes no attempt to link any data to individuals. When you browse or download information from the ETF website, ETF collects and stores the following information:

  1. The date and time you visited
  2. Your Internet Protocol (IP) address or domain name
  3. The internet pages or services you accessed
  4. The type of web browser and operating system
  5. The website you visited before coming to the ETF website

Security

ETF provides users of the ETF website  with a secure means to send electronic mail (email) to ETF, using a fill-in form at the Contact Us section of ETF’s website. The form uses Transport Layer Security (TLS), the industry standard for transferring information on the internet securely. If you send a message to ETF using the provided forms, all information in your message is encrypted while it is sent over the internet. Any identifiable information obtained by ETF via the ETF website is protected from public access. ETF may disclose information to federal or state law enforcement authorities to enforce ETF’s rights against unauthorized access or attempted unauthorized access to ETF’s information technology assets.

Disclaimer

The ETF website links to other sites. These links may include websites operated by other government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses. When you link to another site, you are no longer on a site covered by this privacy notice and are subject to the policies of that site.