VALIDATION
TRAINING INSTITUTE PRIVACY POLICY
Effective Date: April 1, 2016
This privacy policy covers the https://vfvalidation.org/ web
site (the „Website“) owned and operated by Validation Training Institute, Inc.,
an Ohio corporation and federal tax-exempt entity („VTI“). VTI treats all
information that you choose to share with us with the care and respect that it
deserves. This Privacy Policy seeks to explain what information we collect and
how it is used.
If users have questions or concerns regarding this policy,
they should first contact us at .
SECTION 1 INFORMATION COLLECTION AND USE
A. Information Collection
VTI is the sole owner of the
information collected on the Website and any other related domains or websites.
VTI collects information from our users at several different points on our
Website.
B. Registration
During registration a user is required to provide certain
contact information (such as name and email address). We use this information
to contact you regarding services on our site for which you have expressed
interest and to provide important updates and legal notifications.
C. Ordering
We request certain information from users when ordering
certain goods and services. A user must provide contact information (such as
name, email, and address) and financial information (such as credit card
number, expiration date, etc.) in order to utilize such ordering services (for billing
purposes and to fill customers‘ orders). If we have trouble processing an order,
the information can be used to contact the user.
SECTION 2 INFORMATION USE
A. Profile
We store information that we collect through cookies, log
files, clear gifs, and/or third parties in order to create an internal profile
of our users. These profiles are comprised of stored information that we keep
on individual users which details user history and viewing preferences.
Consequently, such information is tied to the users‘ personally identifiable information
and is used to provide services and offers and improve the content of the site
for the user. Your profile is only shared in aggregate, de-identified form.
B. Cookies
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s computer
tied to information about the user. We use both session ID cookies and
persistent cookies. A persistent cookie is a small text file stored on the
user’s hard drive for an extended period of time. Persistent cookies can be
removed by following internet browser help file directions. By setting a cookie
on our site, users would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby
saving time while on our site. If users reject the cookie, they may still use
our site, but may be unable to use certain functions. Persistent cookies enable
us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on
our site. See the „Profile“ section.
Some of our business partners use cookies on our site (for
example, advertisers, tracking utility companies, service providers). We have
no access to or control over these cookies, once we have given permission for
them to set cookies for advertising. Our partners, affiliates, tracking utility
companies, service providers use session ID cookies to make it easier for you
to navigate our site. Our third-party partners employ clear gifs (a.k.a. Web
Beacons/Web Bugs), images, and scripts that help them better manage content on
our site. This type of information is not tied to any personally identifiable
information.
C. Log Files
We use log files, including internet protocol (IP) addresses,
browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform
type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the
site, track user’s movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic
information for aggregate use.
D. Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs)
We may employ (or our third party advertising companies may
employ) a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs),
that help us better manage content on our site by informing us what content is
effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in
function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users.
Clear Gifs can „work with“ existing cookies on a computer if
they are both from the same website or advertising company. That means, for
example, that if a person visited „www.companyX.com“, which uses an advertising
company’s clear gif, the website (or advertising company) would match the clear
gif’s identifier and the advertising company’s cookie ID number, to show the
past online behavior or that computer. This collected information would then be
given to the advertising company or website.
In addition, we use clear gifs in our HTML-based emails to
let us know which emails have been opened by the recipients. This allows us to
gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our
marketing campaigns. If users would like to opt-out of these emails, please see
the User Choice and Opt-Out section.
SECTION 3 COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE SITE
A. Special Offers and Updates; Donations
We may send all new members a welcoming email to verify
password and username. Established members will occasionally receive
information on products, services, special deals, a newsletter, and donation
solicitations. We offer the option to not receive these types of communications.
Please see the User Choice and Opt-Out section.
B. Newsletter
If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for
contact information such as name and email address. Out of respect for our
users privacy we provide a way to opt-out of these communications. Please see
the User Choice and Opt-Out section.
C. Service Announcements
On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly
service related announcement or legal disclosures. For instance, if our service
is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email.
Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate
their account. Please note that these communications are not promotional in
nature.
D. Customer Service
We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide
requested services and with regard to issues relating to their account we reply
via email or phone, in accordance with the users‘ wishes.
SECTION 4 SHARING – GENERALLY
We will share your personal information with third parties
only in the ways that are described in this privacy policy.
A. Required Disclosures
Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may
need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a
good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current
judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on VTI, when we believe
in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety
or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request,
or to any other third party with your prior consent to do so.
B. Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable)
We may share aggregated demographic information with our
partners and advertisers. This is not linked to any personally identifiable
information.
C. Third Party Advertisers
VTI may share Website usage information about users with a
reputable third party for the purpose of targeting banner advertisements on
this site and other sites. For example, VTI may use cookies and clear GIFs on
this site, which allow them to recognize a user’s cookie when a user visits
this site. The information they collect and share through this technology is
not personally identifiable.
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads and
collect information when users visit our Website. These companies may use
information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone
number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide
advertisements on our site, other websites and other forms of media about goods
and services of interest to you.
If you would like more information about this practice and
to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies,
please contact us at .
D. Employees
VTI employees access nonpublic information in relation to
their job functions and the services they provide to you. We maintain physical,
electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with the federal standards to
guard your nonpublic information.
SECTION 5 SHARING – PERSONAL INFORMATION
A. Third Party Intermediaries
We use an outside credit card processing company to bill
users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or
use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes. These
companies are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide
these services to us.
B. Service Providers
We may partner with other third parties to provide specific
services. When the user signs up for these particular services, we share names,
or other contact information that is necessary for the third party to provide
these services. These third parties are not allowed to use personally
identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services.
C. Business Transitions
In the event that VTI goes through a business transition (such
as a merger with another nonprofit entity) users‘ personal information will, in
most instances, be part of the assets transferred. You will be notified via
email and/or a prominent notice on our Website of any event which may result in
the transfer of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have
regarding your personal information.
SECTION 6 LINKS
This Website contains links to other sites. Please be aware
that VTI is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We
encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the
privacy policies of each and every website that collects personally
identifiable information. Our privacy policy applies solely to information
collected by our Website.
SECTION 7 SOCIAL MEDIA FEATURES AND WIDGETS
Our Website may now or in the future include certain social
media features, such as the „Facebook Like“ button and widgets, such as the
„ShareThis“ button or interactive mini-programs that run on our site. These
features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site,
and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media
features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on
our Website. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy
policy of the company providing it.
SECTION 8 CHAT ROOMS, MESSAGE BOARDS, PUBLIC FORUMS
Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose
personal information online – for example on message boards, through e-mail, or
in chat areas – that information can be collected and used by others. In short,
by posting personal information online that is publicly accessible, you may
receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. To request removal
of your personal information from our community forum, contact us at
. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal
information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and
why.
SECTION 9 SECURITY
VTI makes diligent efforts to protect your information. When
users submit sensitive information via the Website, their information is protected
both online and off-line. When our registration/order form asks users to enter
sensitive information, such information is encrypted and is protected with SSL.
While we use SSLto protect sensitive information
online, we also do everything in our power to protect user-information
off-line. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job are
granted access to personally identifiable information. Finally, the servers
that store personally identifiable information are in a secure environment. No
method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is
100% secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
SECTION 10 USER CHOICE AND OPT-OUT
If your personal information changes, or if you no longer
desire our service, you may correct, update, amend, delete/remove, or deactivate
it by making the change on our member information page or by emailing our
Customer Support at .
You may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing
emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails,
accessing the email preferences in your account settings page or you can
contact us at . We will retain your information for as long
as your account is active or as needed to provide you services and as long as necessary
to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our
agreements.
SECTION 11 NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES
If we change our privacy policy, we will post those changes
to this privacy policy, the Website, and other places we deem appropriate so
our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and
under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. If we make any material
changes we will notify you by email or by means of a notice on this Website
prior to the change becoming effective.
Contact Us
If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy,
please contact us at:
Validation Training Institute Inc.
PO Box 2243
Jasper OR 97478