Privacy Policy

The Society for Conservation GIS (hereafter “SCGIS”) recognizes that privacy is important. This Policy applies to the collection and use of your personal information that is made available when you visit our website.

This Policy describes our methods for collection and use of personal information, including what type of information is gathered, how the information is used, to whom we disclose the information, and how we safeguard your personal information.

1. Introduction

We protect your personal information and will only provide it to third parties: (1) with your consent; (2) where it is necessary to carry out your instructions; (3) as reasonably necessary in order to provide website features and functionality to you; (4) as we reasonably believe is permitted by law or regulation; or (5) as necessary to enforce our Terms of Use or protect the rights, property, or safety of SCGIS, its Members, and the public.

We have implemented appropriate security safeguards designed to protect your information in accordance with industry standards.

2. What we collect

2.1 Registration

To create an account on the SCGIS website, you must provide us basic personal information such as your name, organization, email address, mailing address, and a password. You understand that, by creating an account, SCGIS and others will be able to identify you by your SCGIS profile, and you allow SCGIS to use this information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. We also also ask for your credit card details if you choose to pay for your membership and/or conference registration fees by credit card.

2.2 Profile Information

After you create an account, you may choose to provide additional information on your SCGIS profile such as a profile photo, descriptions of your skills, professional experience, and background. You can tag your profile with relevant keywords to make it easier for other members to find you. You can add projects to your profile that describe past or present projects that you have worked on.

2.3 User Communications

Any information that you display on a public forum, such as the discussions forum, is visible to all website users. By posting this information as public, SCGIS has the right to contact you regarding the information that is posted. Messages that you send to other members via the site’s internal messaging system is private and may only be viewed by the member to whom you sent the message. When you send an internal message, that information is stored in our private database. SCGIS may choose to view these internal messages to investigate if a user has violated the SCGIS Terms of Use.

2.4 Cookies

When you visit our website, text files, called cookies, are sent to your computer to identify your computer each time you return. We use Google Analytics, which sends its own cookies, to track statistics about site usage. We use this information to make improvements to the site for a better user experience. You can review Google’s privacy policy for more details. This information cannot personally identify you so it is not possible to contact you using this information. You may choose to disable cookies by changing your browser settings, however, some features may not be available if cookies are disabled. By visiting the SCGIS website, you consent to the placement of cookies in your browser in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

3. How we use your information

3.1 Consent to process information about you

The personal information you provide to us may reveal or allow others to identify aspects of your life that are not expressly stated on your profile (for example, your picture or your name may reveal your gender). By providing personal information to us when you create or update your account and profile, you are expressly and voluntarily accepting the terms and conditions of SCGIS’s Terms of Use and freely accepting and agreeing to our processing of your personal information in ways set out by this Privacy Policy. Supplying information to us, including any information deemed “sensitive” by applicable law, is entirely voluntary on your part. You have the right to withdraw or modify your consent to SCGIS’s collection and processing of the information you provide at any time, in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use, by changing your profile or by closing your account.

3.2 SCGIS Communications

We may send you service messages through email and messages to your SCGIS inbox. These messages may cover service availability, security, and other issues about the functioning of the SCGIS website. We will also send you confirmation notices, invoices, and discussion threads via email.

3.3 Sharing Information with Third Parties

The SCGIS website offers a “public profile” feature that allows Members to publish their profile to the public internet. This public profile will be indexed and displayed through public search engines when someone searches for your name. You may opt out of this feature in your settings to make your profile private. However, third-party search engines may not automatically update their caches, which may contain old public profile information. Unless you delete your profile, your profile photo and name is always viewable on the Member page.

We do not share, sell, or rent your personal information to anyone without your advance permission or unless ordered by a court of law. We will not disclose personal information that is not published to your profile or generated through engagement with other services, such as Discussions and Events, without your consent or to carry out your instructions (for example, to process payment information) unless SCGIS has a good faith belief that disclosure is permitted by law or is reasonably necessary to: (1) comply with a legal requirement or process, including, but not limited to, civil and criminal subpoenas, court orders or other compulsory disclosures; (2) enforce this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use; (3) respond to claims of a violation of the rights of third parties; (4) respond to Member service inquiries; or (5) protect the rights, property, or safety of SCGIS, our Members, or the public. See Section 3.5 for additional details about SCGIS’s compliance with legal requests for information.

3.4 Public Content

If you participate in SCGIS Discussions, post events, projects, or jobs, you should be aware that any information you choose to disclose using these services can be read, collected, and used by other Members in these forums, the general public, and other third parties. SCGIS is not responsible for the information you choose to submit in these forums. The public content posted to the SCGIS website is public and searchable on the internet.

3.5 Compliance with Legal Process and Other Disclosures

It is possible that we may need to disclose personal information, profile information, or information about your activities as an SCGIS Member when required by law, subpoena, or other legal process, or if SCGIS has a good faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (1) investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or to assist government enforcement agencies; (2) enforce the Terms of Use, investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, or protect the security or integrity of our Service; or (3) exercise or protect the rights, property, or safety of SCGIS, our Members, personnel, or others.

4. Your Choices and Obligations

4.1 Rights to access, correct, delete, or close your account

You have a right to (1) access, modify, correct, or delete your personal information controlled by SCGIS regarding your profile, (2) change or remove your content, and (3) close your account. You can also contact us for any account information which is not on your profile or readily accessible to you. If you close your account, your information will generally be removed from the Service within 24 hours, except as noted below.

Please note: Information you have shared with others (for example, through internal messaging, discussion posts, news, events, jobs, or chapters) will remain visible after you have closed your account or deleted the information from your own profile. Shared content associated with closed accounts will show an unknown user as the source. In addition, you may not be able to access, correct, or eliminate any information about you that other Members copied or exported out of the SCGIS website because this information may not be in our control. Your public profile may be displayed in search engine results until the search engine refreshes its cache.

4.2 Data Retention

We retain the personal information you provide while your account is in existence or as needed to provide you services. SCGIS may retain your personal information even after you have closed your account if retention is reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations, meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes between Members, prevent fraud and abuse, or enforce this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. We may retain personal information, for a limited period of time, if requested by law enforcement.

4.3 Your Obligations

As a Member, you have certain obligations to other Members. Some of these obligations are imposed by applicable law and regulations and others have become commonplace in communities of like-minded Members such as SCGIS:

You must, at all times, abide by the terms and conditions of the current Privacy Policy, and Terms of Use. This includes respecting all intellectual property rights that may belong to third parties such as trademarks or copyrights. You must not upload or otherwise disseminate any information that may infringe on the rights of others or which may be deemed to be injurious, violent, offensive, racist, or xenophobic, or which may otherwise violate the purpose and spirit of SCGIS and its community of Members. You must keep your username and password confidential and not share it with others. Any violation of these guidelines or those detailed in our Terms of Use or elsewhere may lead to the restriction, suspension, or termination of your account at the sole discretion of SCGIS.

5. Security

Security is a high priority for SCGIS, therefore we take every precaution to safeguard your information from loss, theft, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, and alteration. We have implemented security safeguards designed to protect the personal information that you provide in accordance with industry standards. Access to your data on the SCGIS website is password-protected, and sensitive data (such as credit card information) is protected by SSL encryption when it is exchanged between your web browser and SCGIS Services. To protect any data you store on our servers, we also regularly monitor our system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks. However, since the internet is not a 100% secure environment, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information that you transmit to SCGIS. There is no guarantee that information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. It is your responsibility to protect the security of your login information. Please note that emails, instant messaging, and similar means of communication with other SCGIS Members are not encrypted, and we strongly advise you not to communicate any confidential information through these means. Please help keep your account safe by using a strong password.

6. Other sites

This Privacy Policy applies only to the SCGIS website (www.scgis.org). This Policy does not apply to websites that are linked to our site or the websites of any affiliated organizations or chapters.

Changes to this Policy

This Privacy Policy was established: December 2013

This Policy may be changed in the future and such changes will be reflected on this site. If revisions to this Policy are made, your information will be protected under the Policy that was active during the time of collection. Continuing to use the SCGIS website after we make any changes to this Privacy Policy means that you are consenting to the changes. You may request past versions of this Policy by contacting us.

Contact

If you have any questions or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us.