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ICOMP PRIVACY & DATA PROTECTION POLICY
This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) explains how the Initiative For A Competitive Online Marketplace (“ICOMP”) collects and uses personal information relating to users of the website (the “Site” or “ICOMP Site”). For more information about ICOMP, see “About Us”. ICOMP believes strongly in protecting the privacy of the personal information shared with us. We also believe it is important to inform users about our data handling practices.
This Policy contains important information about the collection, use and transfer of personal information submitted to our Site and we encourage you to read it carefully and before providing any personal information to us. By using our Site, you consent to the collection and use of your personal information as outlined in this Policy. If you do not agree with the content of this Policy, you should refrain from using our Site.
1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT
In general, you can visit the ICOMP Site without providing any personal information about yourself. However, if you wish to participate in the ICOMP discussion forum or utilize specific features of our Site, we may need to collect some personal information from you. Personal information is any data that identifies you by itself or that can be combined with other information to identify or communicate with you and includes (but is not limited to) your first and last name, business and personal email address and professional role.
Unregistered Users
We do not collect any personal information when you visit our Site unless you choose to provide the information to us. Please note, however, that certain information about your visit to our Site will be collected automatically - see “Information Collected Automatically”.
Registered Users
Registering as a user of ICOMP enables you to submit ideas and materials, as well as debate and discuss industry issues with other Registered Users. If you choose to register, you will be asked to provide your first name, last name and email address. You will also be asked to select a unique username, password and display name. Your display name identifies you to other Registered Users of ICOMP. To safeguard your own privacy and security, you may prefer not to include or use your email address or actual name in your display name.
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit our Site, we automatically collect and analyze certain information about your computer. This information includes but may not be limited to the IP address used to connect your computer to the Internet, information about your browser type and language, the date and time you are accessing our Site, the content of any undeleted cookies that your browser previously accepted from us, and the referring website address.
Use of Cookies
As a result of your visit to our Site, our web server may directly or indirectly place a "cookie" into your web browser. A cookie is a small piece of information that helps us understand how individuals navigate our Site. These cookies contain no personal information, and cannot be linked to any personal information. They are used only to help us understand how visitors navigate our Site. You may refuse to accept cookies by following the procedures specific to your browser. However, if you do this, you may not be able to sign in or access certain areas of our Site.
Resource Materials and Personal Information
An important feature of the ICOMP Site is the provision of industry-related information resources for the benefit of Unregistered and Registered Users. These resources include articles, reports, research papers and other publications. These materials may identify the author(s) or creator(s) of the material and include other personal information about them such as their institutional affiliations, academic qualifications and professional titles. Such materials should not be posted without the permission of the relevant authors or creators of the materials, as stated in the Site’s Terms of Use.
2. HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
ICOMP collects and uses your personal information for the following principal purposes:
- Registration and responding to inquiries: we will use your personal information to set up and maintain your ICOMP registration. We will also follow up on comments and other requests that you submit to us. This may include communicating with you via email.
- Maintaining the Site and conducting surveys: we will use your personal information in order to maintain and improve our Site. From time to time we may also conduct surveys for the purpose of evaluating the use of our Site.
- Providing resource materials and information: when we publish information materials, we may display minimal details about the individuals and organizations who have provided information resources to our Site. These materials may be accessed and read by the general public and Registered Users.
- Participation in discussion forums: if you choose to participate in an ICOMP discussion forum, then you will be required to register certain details with us such as your name and email address (see "Registered Members"). You should be aware that your comments and opinions may be made broadly available to other Registered Users. For more information please refer to "Privacy and the ICOMP Discussion Forum".
At any time you may request the removal of your name or other personal information and contributions displayed on our Site by emailing us or by contacting us via info@i-comp.org.
3. PRIVACY AND THE ICOMP DISCUSSION FORUM
If you choose to participate in the ICOMP discussion forum, your contact and institutional information as well as your ideas and commentary will be published directly onto our Site and may be accessed and read by other Registered Users. Any additional personal information that you post on our discussion board may also be viewed by other Registered Users. We are not responsible for the use of information by other Registered Users of our Site. You should only share additional personal information about yourself where you are comfortable doing so. You should not post personal information about other persons anywhere on our Site unless you have their prior consent to do so.
4. CHOICES ABOUT THE USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
ICOMP believes that it is important that individuals are given the opportunity to exercise choice with respect to how their personal information is collected and used. If we propose to use your personal information for any purposes other than those described in this Policy, we will allow you a convenient way to opt-out of such further uses.
Registered Users and other individuals whose personal information we hold can also contact info@i-comp.org and request access to their personal information, as described more fully below under “Access and Correction of Personal Information”. We also will strive to comply with your wishes with respect to the handling of your personal information in all other cases, provided that this does not interfere with our operation of the Site or our legal or regulatory obligations. And, you are free to decline to provide personal information to us, although this may mean that you are unable to continue to use the ICOMP Site.
5. DISCLOSURES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
ICOMP may share your personal information with other companies or individuals outside of ICOMP in the following instances:
- When we engage service providers and third party agents to process personal information on our behalf. When we do so, ICOMP requires that these service providers implement adequate technological and organizational security measures before they can receive any personal information from us.
- In response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law. In such cases we reserve the right to raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us.
- When we believe it is appropriate to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or suspected illegal activities; to protect and defend the rights, property or safety of ICOMP, our Registered Users or others; and in connection with our Terms of Service and other agreements.
Other than as set out above, you will be notified if we need to share any personal information about you with third parties, and you will have the opportunity to choose not to have us share such information.
Registered Users should be aware that any personal information they post online via our discussion forum may be made available to, and viewed by, other Registered Users of ICOMP throughout the world.
6. INFORMATION INTEGRITY
ICOMP processes personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and in accordance with this Policy. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we process is accurate, complete and current. Where we receive personal information directly from individuals wishing to register with us, we rely upon those individuals to provide us with information that is accurate and correct and, following registration, to inform us when the information becomes incorrect or out of date.
7. ACCESS AND CORRECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
You can request access to any personal information that we hold about you and ask us to correct any information which may be inaccurate, except where the law requires otherwise. To access, correct or raise inquiries about your personal information in our possession, please contact: info@i-comp.org.
8. INFORMATION SECURITY
ICOMP has implemented technical and organizational security measures to help protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of personal information. We review our systems regularly to ensure that the security and integrity of personal information in our possession is never compromised. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be entirely secure and ICOMP assumes no liability for any damage suffered by you caused by the interception, alteration or misuse of information during transmission.
Please note that effective security with respect to the ICOMP Site depends, in part, on Registered Users ensuring that personal log-in IDs and passwords that they have selected to access the restricted areas of the ICOMP Site are kept confidential and secure and that Registered Users adhere to the restrictions on ID and password sharing set forth in our Terms of Use.
9. THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
We may provide links to other websites and web resources that are not part of the ICOMP Site for you to access at your sole discretion. You acknowledge and agree that, as you have chosen to enter the linked website we are not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and do not review or endorse and shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for (i) the privacy practices of such websites, (ii) the content of such websites, including (without limitation) any advertising, content, products, goods or other materials or services on or available from such websites or resources or (iii) the use that others make of these websites or resources.
Upon linking to third party websites you should inform yourself of the privacy policies and practices of such third party websites. You should also be aware that such third party websites may use cookies.
10. CHILDREN
The ICOMP Site is specifically aimed at and designed for use by adults. ICOMP does not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from or about individuals under the age of 18 years. If we discover that we have received personal information from an individual whom we believe to be under the age of 18, we will delete this information from our systems.
11. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
This Policy may change from time to time. If we make material changes to this Policy, we will post any Policy changes on this page. Your continued usage of our Site following such posts or notices will signal your acceptance of such changes.
If you have any additional questions or concerns about this Policy, please feel free to contact us at any time through this Site or at info@i-comp.org.
Last Updated: 17 January 2008
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