ACR Policy on Privacy

Web Site Proprietary Legend and Disclaimer | ACR Policy on Linking

This privacy statement covers the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)'s Web site www.rheumatology.org (Web site). The ACR is committed to our users' privacy, and therefore it has agreed to disclose its information and privacy practices. These practices are reviewed by outside sources, including legal representation and third parties such as TRUSTe.

This statement covers the following areas:

1. What personally identifiable information ACR may collect
2. What personally identifiable information third parties may collect through the Web site
3. What organization may collect the information
4. How ACR may use the information
5. With whom ACR may share user information
6. What choices are available to users regarding collection, use and distribution of the information
7. What types of security procedures are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under ACR control
8. How users can correct any inaccuracies in the information
   

If users have questions or concerns regarding this statement, they should first contact the ACR by email at acr@rheumatology.org.

Information Collection and Use
Information Collection
ACR is the sole owner of any information collected on www.rheumatology.org. ACR may collect information from our users at several different points on our Web site.

Registration
In order to use this Web site, some users may be asked to complete a registration form. A user is required to give certain contact information (such as name, password, and email address) during the registration process. We use some information for access to our site, and may use this information to contact the user about services on our site for which he has expressed interest. The provision of other information is optional (such as address) but encouraged so we can provide a more personalized experience on our site. None of this information is sold to or shared with third parties, and remains the sole property of the ACR.

Order Information
We request information from the user on our order form. A user must provide contact information (such as name, email, and shipping address) and financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill customer's orders. If we have trouble processing an order, the information is used to contact the user.

Information Use

Profile
We may store information that we collect through cookies, log files, clear gifs. A profile is stored information that we keep on individual users detailing their viewing preferences. Consequently, collected information is tied to the users' personally identifiable information to improve the content of the site for the user. This profile is used to tailor a user's visit to our site. We do not share your profile with other third parties.

Cookies
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. We may use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. For the session ID cookie, once users close the browser, the cookie simply terminates. 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. The only drawback to this is that the user will be limited in some areas of our site. For example, the user will not be able to access the members' only section of our web. Cookies enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site. See the "Profile" section.

Log Files
Like most standard Web site servers we use log files. This includes 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. IP addresses, etc. are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Communications from the Site
Special Offers and Updates
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, and a newsletter. Out of respect for the privacy of our users we present the option to not receive these types of communications. Please see the Choice and Opt-out sections.

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 Choice and Opt-out sections.

Service Announcements
On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. 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. However, these communications are not promotional in nature. Users may opt-out of these communications. Please see our Choice and Opt-out section.

Customer Service
We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regards to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone, in accordance with the user's wishes.

Sharing
Legal Disclaimer
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 our Web site.

Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable)
We do not share aggregated demographic information with any third parties.

Personal Information
We DO NOT Share Personal Information collected from this web site with third parties.

Third Party Intermediaries
We use an outside shipping company to ship orders, and a credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. It is our understanding that these companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

Service Providers
We partner with other third parties to provide specific services. For example, we use third party companies for certain meeting registration functions, abstract processing, and journal publishing. We may share names, address information, phone, fax, and email address (users may ask us to not share their fax and email- Please see our Choice and Opt-out section.) 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. We make our privacy policies clear to any Service Providers, and adherence to these policies may be required for maintaining a business relationship with the ACR.

Choice/Opt-out
Our users are given the opportunity to 'opt-out' of having their information used for purposes not directly related to our site at the point where we ask for information. Users who do not wish to have us use their fax or email addresses may opt-out of receiving these communications by emailing us at calling us at 404-633-3777 or mailing us at the address below.
We also offer an opt-out mechanism on the member dues forms.

Links
This Web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we, ACR, are 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 statements of each and every Web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site.

Security
This Web site takes reasonable precaution to protect our users' information. When users submit sensitive information via the Web site, their information is protected both online and off-line.

Sensitive information such as credit card numbers are encrypted and protected with strong encryption software - SSL. Encryption means the credit card number is scrambled so that it is virtually impossible to be decoded and read by a hacker or other un-intended party. While on a secure page, such as our order form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked, or open, when users are using an un-encrypted page.

While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we take reasonable precautions to protect user-information off-line. All of our users' information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our customer service representatives) are granted access to personally identifiable information. Finally, the servers that store personally identifiable information are in a secure environment. If users have any questions about the security at our Web site, users can send an email to

Correcting/Updating/Deleting/Deactivating Personal Information
If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code, phone, email or postal address), or if a user no longer desires our service, we provide a way to correct, update or delete/deactivate users' personally identifiable information. This can be done at by emailing our Membership Department at or by contacting us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed above.

Notification of Changes
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, 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. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.

If, however, we are going to use users' personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify users via email. Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their information in this different manner. However, if users have opted out of all communication with the site, or deleted/deactivated their account, then they will not be contacted, nor will their personal information be used in this new manner. In addition, if we make any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect user information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our Web site notifying users of the change. In some cases where we post a notice we will also email users, who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

Contact Information
If users have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please .