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VITA Privacy Policy

Introduction

Published: April 30, 2018

The VMEbus International Trade Association (”VITA”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this privacy policy.

This privacy policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the following VITA websites (our “Websites”):

It also describes our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

This privacy policy applies to information we collect:

On the Websites;
On other Websites used by VITA for scheduling and planning purposes, e.g., MailChimp, CVENT, GoogleForms, SurveyMonkey
In email, text, and other electronic messages between you and the Websites; and
Through Webinar, Webex and other online workshops or events sponsored by VITA.

Please read this privacy policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Websites or otherwise participate in VITA activities. By accessing or using the Websites, you agree to this privacy policy. This privacy policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of our Websites after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the privacy policy periodically for updates.

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

We collect several types of information from and about users of our Websites, including information:

by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, or any other information the websites collects that is defined as personal or personally identifiable information under an applicable law/any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline (”personal information”); and
that is about you but individually does not identify you;
and/or about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Websites and usage details.

We collect this information:

Directly from you when you provide it to us;
Automatically as you, navigate through the Websites. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.

Information You Provide to Us

The information we collect on or through our Websites may include:

Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Websites. This includes information provided at the time of becoming a member of VITA, registering to use our Websites, subscribing to one of our services, posting material, or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you register for an event sponsored by us or when you report a problem with our Websites;
Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us;
Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research or scheduling purposes; and
Your search queries on the Websites.

You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, “posted”) on public areas of the Websites, or transmitted to other users of the Websites or third parties (collectively, “User Contributions”). Your User Contributions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk. Although, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Websites with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with our Websites, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

Details of your visits to our Websites, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Websites; and
Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking). For example, when someone visits a particular VITA page they may receive future ads from Google on other sites they visit. You can disable cookies in your browser settings and you can opt out of Google’s use of cookies at https://www.google.com/settings/ads, for information on how you can opt out of behavioral tracking on the websites and how we respond to web browser signals and other mechanisms that enable consumers to exercise choice about behavioral tracking.

The information we collect automatically is statistical data and does not include personal information, but we may maintain it or associate it with personal information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Websites and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:

Estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Websites according to your individual interests;
Speed up your searches; and
Recognize you when you return to our Websites.
The Websites automatically collect visitor data, which is not personally identifiable. The data is used to understand the use of the site and to better understand the needs of our visitors. The type of information that is collected about you for analytics may include demographics for age, gender, geographic location and language. The Websites also collect information about which pages were visited, how long a visit lasted, and browser type or device and other information which is not personally identifiable.
If you interact with forms on the Websites, you may provide personal information such as phone number, address and email address so we can interact with you directly. The Websites use cookies. Third parties, such as Google may use cookies to serve ads based on your visit. These ads may appear on other sites you visit. We also use third party email and cloud services for record keeping or to send information or deliver services to you.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Websites. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Websites;
Web Beacons. Pages of our Websites and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit VITA, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

We do not collect personal information automatically, but we may tie this information to personal information about you that we collect from other sources you provide to us.

Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Websites are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our websites. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.

We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. For information about how you can opt out of receiving targeted advertising from many providers, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.

How We Use Your Information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:

To present our Websites and its contents to you;
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us;
To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it;
To provide you with notices about your membership account, including expiration and renewal notices;
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection;
To notify you about changes to our Websites or any products or services we offer or provide though it;
To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Websites;
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information; and
For any other purpose with your consent.

We may also use your information to contact you about our own and third-parties’ goods and services that may be of interest to you. For more information, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.

We may use the information we have collected from you to enable us to display advertisements to our advertisers’ target audiences. Even though we do not disclose your personal information for these purposes without your consent, if you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement, the advertiser may assume that you meet its target criteria.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this statement:

To our subsidiaries and affiliates;
To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them;
To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of VITA's assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by VITA about our Websites users is among the assets transferred;
To third parties to market their products or services to you if you have consented to (not opted out) of these disclosures. We contractually require these third parties to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them. For more information, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information;
To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it;
For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information;
With your consent; and

We may also disclose your personal information:

To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
To enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes; and
If we believe, disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of VITA, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us.

We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:

Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s website. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly;
Disclosure of Your Information for Third-Party Advertising. If you do not want us to share your personal information with unaffiliated or non-agent third parties for promotional purposes, you can opt-out by checking the relevant box located on the form on which we collect your data (the registration form) or email VITA Privacy. You can also always opt-out by logging into the Website and adjusting your user preferences in your account profile by checking or unchecking the relevant boxes or by sending us an email stating your request to VITA Privacy;
Promotional Offers from VITA. If you do not wish to have your email address/contact information used by VITA to promote our own or third parties’ products or services, you can opt-out by checking the relevant preferences located on the form on which we collect your data (the registration form) or at any other time by logging into the Websites and adjusting your user preferences in your account profile by checking or unchecking the relevant preferences or by sending us an email stating your request to VITA Privacy. If we have sent you a promotional email, you may send us a return email asking to be omitted from future email distributions. This opt out does not apply to information provided to VITA as a result of a product purchase, warranty registration, product service experience or other transactions;
Targeted Advertising. VITA does not use information that we collect or that you provide to us to deliver targeted advertisements; and
We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can opt out of receiving targeted ads from members of the Network Advertising Initiative (”NAI”) on the NAI’s website https://www.networkadvertising.org.

Accessing and Correcting Your Information

You can review and change your personal information by logging into the Website and visiting your account profile page.

You may also send us an email at VITA Privacy to request access to, correct or delete any personal information that you have provided to us. We cannot delete your personal information except by also deleting your user account. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

If you delete your User Contributions from the Websites, copies of your User Contributions may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or might have been copied or stored by other Website users. Proper access and use of information provided on the Website, including User Contributions, is governed by our terms of use.

Data Security - Applicable only to VITA’s Webstore and Membership Dues Portal

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure.

Online transactions utilize a secure server and automated credit or debit card authorization service. For security reasons, this system will store approval codes, but not credit card numbers. Credit card information must be re-entered for all future transactions.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Website like message boards. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the Websites.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Websites. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any settings or security measures contained on the Websites.

Children Under the Age of 13

Our Websites are not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any information to the Websites. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on the Websites or on or through any of its features/register on the Websites, make any purchases through the Websites, use any of the interactive or public comment features of the Websites or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe, we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at VITA Privacy.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

If we make material changes to our Privacy policy regarding how we treat our users’ personal information, we will notify you by email to the primary email address specified in your account and/or through a notice on the Website home page. The date the statement was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Websites and this privacy policy to check for any changes.

Contact Information

To ask questions or comment about this statement and our practices, please visit Contact.