Our Commitment to Privacy
The association respects the privacy of its members and has developed this policy to assist you in understanding how we collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide to us and to help you make informed decisions about using this site and our services. This statement will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices and our members’ needs.
What Information Do We Collect?
When you visit our web site you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and site usage information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our site.
Personal Information You Can Choose To Provide
Credit Card Information
If you choose to pay dues, registration fees or other charges via the site, you may need to give personal information and authorization to obtain information from various credit services. For example, you may need to provide the following information:
- Name
- Mailing address
- Email address
- Credit card number, expiration date and security code
- User’s telephone number
- Other information that may be required for processing a credit card charge.
Information used for processing a credit card charge is always entered directly into the payment processing section of our web site provider or Square Up ™ and is never retained by the association in any form, except as required for processing subscriptions, and that is done via Authorize.net on our web site. We do not accept credit card payments by telephone, fax or email.
Email Information
In addition to providing the foregoing information to our merchant account bank or processing firm, if you choose to correspond further with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone. Access is limited to those persons actually involved in responding to your request, or to the Executive Director.
Web Site Use Information
Similar to other web sites, our site utilizes a standard technology called "cookies" (see explanation below, "What Are Cookies?") and web server logs to collect information about how our web site is used. Information gathered through cookies and web server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our web site, and the web sites visited just before and just after our web site. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of this information is associated with you as an individual.
How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us?
Broadly speaking, we use personal information only for purposes approved by the Board of Directors or the membership. We do not rent, share or otherwise disclose information on individual association members, except to other members, on request, (except that a membership directory with contact information is provided to the officers and directors, and may be updated quarterly), and then only a contact person that you designate, company name, address, and phone and fax numbers are listed. We may respond to requests for a referral by providing similar contact information, and we will honor requests to exclude your company from any such referral.
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are a feature of web browser software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a web site. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user’s web browser on the user’s hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user accesses on one web page to simplify subsequent interactions with that web site by the same user.
How Do We Use Information We Collect from Cookies?
The site uses cookies only to maintain session consistency, and not to collect or retain personal information or track site usage.
Sharing Information with Associates
From time to time you may notice offers from outside companies advertised on our web site. We take measures to select product or service providers that are responsible and afford privacy protections to their members. However, we cannot make any representations about the practices and policies of these companies, except that they qualify for association membership. Site access, and therefore access to all content, including membership contact information, is limited to members, including both regular and associate. We do not make any information about individual members available to advertisers or others, unless they become members, and then only contact information is provided.
How Do We Secure Information Transmissions?
We currently do not have the ability to encrypt email at the point of origin, so email that you send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as credit card numbers to us through an unsecured email.
How Do We Protect Your Information?
Information Security. We utilize encryption and security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction. Our site is reviewed quarterly by a firm selected by our credit card processor to assure that our practices comply with strict security requirements. The inspection is done via remote control, at night, without our knowledge. We have consistently earned acceptable scores, usually 100% secure. If the score is less than 100%, we immediately correct any flaws and repeat the test until we obtain a perfect score.
Evaluation of Information Protection Practices. Periodically, our operations and business practices are reviewed for compliance with association policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and quality of our information and industry best practices.
Staff Access, Training and Expectations. Our association values, ethical standards, policies and practices are committed to the protection of member information. In general, our business practices limit staff access to confidential information, and limit the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and transactions.
Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties?
We may provide aggregate information about our members, site traffic patterns and related information to others, as authorized by the Board, but this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy.
What About Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information?
We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.
What About Other Websites Linked to Ours?
We are not responsible for the practices employed by web sites linked to or from our web site nor the information or content contained therein. Often links to other web sites are provided solely as pointers to information on topics that may be useful to the users of our web site.
Please remember that when you use a link to go from our web site to another web site, our Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. Your browsing and interaction on any other web site, including web sites that have a link on our web site, is subject to that web site’s own rules and policies. Please read over those rules and policies before proceeding.
Your Consent
By using our web site you consent to our collection and use of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If we change our privacy policies and procedures, we will post those changes on our web site to keep you aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we may disclose it.