Autism Science Foundation, Inc. (“ASF”) recognizes that visitors and users to its website at AutismScienceFoundation.org (the “Website”) value their privacy. This Privacy Policy details important information regarding the use and disclosure of information about our users collected on the Website. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use applicable to the Website. Your use of the Website and any personal information you provide on the Website remain subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy and ASF’s Terms and Conditions of Use.
Please note that any video, image, or other content posted at the direction of a user onto the Website becomes published content and is not considered personally identifiable information subject to this Privacy Policy.
1. The Information ASF Collects
User Provided Information: You provide certain personally identifiable information (such as your name and email address) to ASF when choosing to participate in various activities on the Website, such as subscribing to our newsletter or other mailing lists, or making a donation.
Cookies Information: When you visit the Website, we may send one or more cookies – a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters – to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. ASF currently uses only session cookies. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features of the Website may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled. Please note that this information applies to the use of cookies by ASF and does not cover the use of cookies or other tracking technology by any third parties.
Log File Information: When you use the Website, our servers automatically record certain information that your web browser sends whenever you visit any website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, browser language, referring/exit pages and URLs, platform type, number of clicks, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed and the order of those pages, the amount of time spent on particular pages, the date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.
2. The Way ASF Uses Information
If you submit personally identifiable information to us through the Website, then we use your personal information to operate, maintain, and provide to you the features and functionality of the Website, including, when applicable, sending you our newsletter.
Any personal information or other content that you voluntarily disclose online (in the Feedback section of our Website, or on discussion boards, in messages and chat areas, etc., if and when they become part of the Website) becomes publicly available and can be collected and used by others, including ASF, without any additional permission.
We do not use your email address or other personally identifiable information to send commercial or marketing messages without your consent. We may, however, use your email address without further consent for non-marketing or administrative purposes (such as notifying you of major Website changes or for customer service purposes).
We use both your personally identifiable information and certain non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous user usage data, cookies, IP addresses, browser type, click stream data, etc.) to improve the quality and design of the Website and to create new features, promotions, functionality, and services by storing, tracking, and analyzing user preferences and trends.
We use cookies and log file information to: (a) monitor the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns; (b) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, pages viewed, etc.; and (c)track your entries and submissions.
3. When ASF Discloses Information
We provide personally identifiable information and non-personally-identifiable information to other businesses or persons for the sole purpose of processing such information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information in compliance with our privacy policy, and we use reasonable efforts to limit their use of such information and to use other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
We do not share your personally identifiable information (such as name or email address) with other third party companies for their commercial or marketing use without your consent.
We do share non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous user usage data, referring/exit pages and URLs, platform types, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third parties to assist them in understanding the usage patterns for certain content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the Website.
We may release personally identifiable information and/or non-personally-identifiable information if required to do so by law, or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal laws or respond to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant.
ASF also reserves the right to disclose personally identifiable information and/or non-personally-identifiable information that ASF believes, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to enforce our Terms and Conditions of Use, take precautions against liability, to investigate and defend itself against any third party claims or allegations, to assist government enforcement agencies, to protect the security or integrity of our Website, and to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of ASF, our users or others.
4. Your Choices
You may, of course, decline to submit personally identifiable information through the Website, in which case ASF may not be able to provide certain services to you. Please note that media files uploaded by users to the Website cannot be removed and remain subject to our Terms and Conditions of Use.
5. Our Commitment To Children’s Privacy
Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important. For that reason, ASF does not knowingly collect or maintain personally identifiable information or non-personally-identifiable information on the Website from persons under 13 years of age, and no part of our Website is directed to persons under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use or access the Website at any time or in any manner. If ASF learns that personally identifiable information of persons under 13 years of age has been collected on the Website without verified parental consent, then ASF will take the appropriate steps to delete this information.
6. Special Note to International Users
The Website is hosted in the United States and is intended for and directed to users in the United States. If you are accessing the Website from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure, that differ from United States laws, please be advised that through your continued use of the Website, which is governed by U.S. law, this Privacy Policy, and our Terms and Conditions of Use, you are transferring your personal information to the United States and you consent to that transfer.
7. In the Event of Merger, Sale, or Bankruptcy
In the event that ASF is acquired by or merged with a third party entity, we reserve the right, in any of these circumstances, to transfer or assign the information we have collected from our users as part of such merger, acquisition, sale, or other change of control. In the unlikely event of our bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, receivership, or assignment for the benefit of creditors, or the application of laws or equitable principles affecting creditors’ rights generally, we may not be able to control how your personal information is treated, transferred, or used.
8. Changes and Updates to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be revised periodically and this will be reflected by the date below. Please revisit this page to stay aware of any changes. In general, we only use your personal information in the manner described in the Privacy Policy in effect when we received the personal information you provided. Your continued use of the Website constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any future revisions.
For revisions to this Privacy Policy that may be materially less restrictive on our use or disclosure of the personal information you have already provided to us, we will attempt to obtain your consent before implementing such revisions with respect to such information.
If you have any questions about our privacy policy, please contact us at contactus@autismsciencefoundation.org
April 30, 2009