Great Western Council of Optometry Privacy Policy

Last Updated December 2018

Introduction

This notice explains how the Great Western Council of Optometry (GWCO) collects and processes your Personal Data. Internet privacy is an important concern for GWCO. The GWCO website supports the privacy of Internet data.

Each time you use our Site, the current version of this Notice will apply. Accordingly, whenever you use our Site, you should check the date of this Notice (which appears at the top) and review any changes since the last version. This Notice is applicable to all Site visitors, registered users, and all other users of our Site.

“Personal Data” is any information that enables us to identify you, directly or indirectly, by reference to an identifier such as your name, contact information, or location data.

By visiting www.GWCO.org or related properties, (together with the “Site”), you acknowledge that you have read and understood the processes and policies referred to in this Notice.

Who We Are

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”), the Data Controller is the Great Western Council of Optometry registered in Seattle, Washington USA with a registered address at 2150 North 107^th Street, Suite 205, Seattle, Washington 98133.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Notice, please contact us using the Contact Us section on our Site.

How We Collect Personal Data

Personal Data that you give us

We may collect and process the following Personal Data:

• Contact information, which you provide when corresponding with us by phone, email, or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you participate in discussion forums, listservs, or other social media functions on our Site and when you report a problem with our Site. The information you give us may include your name, address, email address, phone number, and/or credit card information.
• Personal information, including your name, contact details such as address, phone number and email address (business or personal), age, job title, professional, personal, and/or demographic information, and any other information related to your membership or participation in GWCO membership, programs, services, and/or events. Personal information may be provided by you during the membership and/or registration process, or by your employer on your behalf.
• Payment information, including financial information such as credit/debit card and account numbers used to register for or renew your membership, register for or purchase programs and/or services, and/or make voluntary donations related to GWCO programs and/or services.
• Purchase information, relating to purchases made by members and non-members of registrations and event participation, programs, services, or publications either in-person or via our Site. Purchase information will include financial information as well as information concerning the content and time of the purchase.

Data we collect from you

With regard to each of your visits to the Site we collect information that is sent to us automatically by your web browser and we may use this information to generate aggregate statistics about visitors to our Site, including, without limitation:

• IP addresses
• Browser type and plug-in details
• Device type (e.g., desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.)
• Operating system and platform
• Local time zone
• Location information
• Information about your visit, including pages you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as time visited, clicks), methods used to browse away from the page

We may use this data for various business purposes such as providing customer service, fraud prevention, market research, and improving our Site. Please check your web browser if you want to learn what information your browser sends or how to change your settings.

How We Process Your Personal Data

We will only process your Personal Data, including sharing it with third parties, where (1) you have provided your consent which can be withdrawn at any time, (2) the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, (3) we are required by law, (4) processing is required to protect your vital interests or those of another person, or (5) processing is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate commercial interests, except where such interests are overridden by your rights and interests.

Personal Data that you give us

We may use Personal Data that you provide directly to us for the following purposes:

• To carry out our obligations arising from your membership, or any other contract entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information, products and membership services that you request from us;
• To organize events that you have purchased or registered for, and to provide you with information, and other materials, relating to the content of the event, the speakers, sponsors, and other attendees;
• To provide our newsletter and/or other publications, provided you have given your consent;
• To respond to your questions and provide related membership services;
• To provide you with information about other events, products and services we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased, provided you have not opted-out of receiving that information;
• To provide you, or permit selected third parties to provide you, with information about events, products or services we feel may interest you, provided you have given your consent;
• To notify you about changes to our membership service; and
• To ensure that content from our Site is presented most effectively for you and your computer or mobile device.

Information we collect about you

We may use Personal Data that we have collected about your use of our Site:

• To administer our Site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
• To improve our Site to ensure that content is presented most effectively for you and your computer or mobile device;
• As part of our efforts to keep our Site safe and secure;
• To measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you; and
• To make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our Site about goods or services that may interest you or them.

When We Share and Who Can Access Your Personal Data

We may share your Personal Data for the purposes described in this Notice with:

• A member of our group;
• Partners, suppliers, and sub-contractors, for the performance of obligations arising from your membership, or any other contract we enter into with them or you or to provide you with the information, products and membership services that you request from us;
• Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimization of our Site;
• Trusted third-party companies and individuals to help us provide, analyze, and improve the Site and our membership services (including but not limited to data storage, maintenance services, database management, web analytics, and payment processing);
• If GWCO or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case Personal Data held by it about its members and/or customers will be one of the transferred assets.

We will only transfer your Personal Data to trusted third-parties who provide sufficient guarantees in respect of the technical and organizational security measures governing the processing to be carried out and who can demonstrate a commitment to compliance with those measures.

Selling Your Personal Data

We will never sell your Personal Data to third parties without your opt-in consent.

Security

Although we use security measures to help protect your Personal Data against loss, misuse or unauthorized disclosure, we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to us over the internet.

All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers.

Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology.

Transfer of Personal Data Outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and International Users

We are headquartered in the United States. Your Personal Data may be accessed by us or transferred to us in the United States or to our affiliates, partners, merchants, or service providers who are located worldwide. If you are visiting our Site from outside the United States, be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located, and our central database is operated. By using our Service, you consent to any transfer of this information.

How Long We Store Your Personal Data

We will store your Personal Data, in a form which permits us to identify you, for no longer than is necessary for the purpose for which the Personal Data is processed. We may retain and use your Personal Data as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements and rights, or if it is not technically reasonably feasible to remove it. Consistent with these requirements, we will try to delete your Personal Data quickly upon request.

Retention

We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with our Site. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you service, contact us at [email protected] We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We maintain one or more databases to store your Personal Data and may keep such information indefinitely.

Where We Store Your Personal Data

The Personal Data that you provide to us is generally stored on servers located in the United States. If you are located in another jurisdiction, you should be aware that once your Personal Data is submitted through our Site, it will be transferred to our servers in the United States and that the United States currently does not have uniform data protection laws in place

Cookies

Cookies are small amounts of information that we may store on your local computer or mobile device when you visit the Site. When you visit the Site again, the cookies allow us to recognize your browser. Cookies may store your preferences and other information but cannot read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites.

Links to Third Party Sites and Services

Our Site may contain links to third party websites, applications, and services not operated by us. These links are provided as a service and do not imply any endorsement by us of the activities or content of these sites, applications or services nor any association with their operators. GWCO is not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any third party including websites or services directly linked to our Service. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third party site that you link from our Service.

Your Rights

Correction and removal

If any of the information that we have about you is incorrect, or you wish to have information (including Personal Data) removed from our records, you may correct or delete information by logging in to your profile or contacting us at [email protected].

Opting Out

Additionally, if you prefer not to receive marketing messages from us, please let us know by clicking on the unsubscribe link within any marketing message that you receive, by visiting the Contact Preferences section of your profile, or by sending a message to us at [email protected]. 

Your European Rights

FOR EUROPEAN RESIDENTS ONLY. GWCO complies with the provisions regarding the collection, use, and retention of Personal Data, as defined under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), from European Union member countries and Switzerland, respectively. You have the right to ask us not to process your Personal Data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your Personal Data) if we intend to use your Personal Data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your Personal Data. You can also exercise the right by contacting us using the Contact Us section on our Site.

Under European data protection law, in certain circumstances, you have the right to:

• Request access to your Personal Data. You may have the right to request access to any Personal Data we hold about you as well as related information, including the purposes for processing the Personal Data, the recipients or categories of recipients with whom the Personal Data has been shared, where possible, the period for which the Personal Data will be stored, the source of the Personal Data, and the existence of any automated decision making.
• Request correction of your Personal Data. You may have the right to obtain without undue delay the rectification of any inaccurate Personal Data we hold about you.
• Request erasure of your Personal Data. You may have the right to request that Personal Data held about you is deleted.
• Object to the processing of your Personal Data. You may have the right to prevent or restrict processing of your Personal Data.
• Request restriction of processing your Personal Data.
• Request transfer of your Personal Data. You may have the right to request transfer of Personal Data directly to a third party where this is technically feasible.

Withdraw your consent

In addition, where you believe that GWCO has not complied with its obligations under this Notice or European law, you have the right to make a complaint to an EU Data Protection Authority.

You can exercise any of these rights by contacting us using the Contact Us section on our Site.

Your Californian Rights

FOR RESIDENTS OF CALIFORNIA ONLY. Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code requires select businesses to disclose policies relating to the sharing of certain categories of your Personal Data with third parties. If you reside in California and have provided your Personal Data to GWCO, you may request information about our disclosures of certain categories of Personal data to third parties for direct marketing purposes. Such requests must be submitted to us at the following email address: [email protected].

THESE NOTICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.