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Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) - Privacy Policy
Effective August 14, 2009
Privacy Policy Table of Contents
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Introduction
WERF encourages, conducts and supports research programs that
develop an inter-disciplinary approach to water quality problems, with
emphasis on environmental protection and economic recovery. The
information that we collect on and off line is for the purpose of
advancing this mission. We recognize the importance of protecting your
privacy and the purpose of this notice to explain how we collect and use
personally identifiable information in the course of our
business. When referring to the WERF website, we are referring to
www.werf.org. For the purposes of
this policy “personally identifiable information” means
names, addresses, email addresses, organization affiliation or other
data that may reveal your personal identity.
The Information We
Collect and How We Use It
The information that we collect falls into three general
categories:
I. Subscribers, Volunteers
and the General Public:
WERF subscribers, volunteers and the general public provide personally
identifiable information which is entered into a secure database. They
are then provided access to the WERF website via a username and password
provided by WERF. Certain WERF publications and tools are designated as
“subscriber only.” Subscriber-only materials are
released to the general public after a period of 2 years and may be
downloaded from the WERF website. Information collected from the
WERF website is not shared with third parties except as described in
Section III below. From time to time and at its discretion, WERF
may use the personally identifiable information collected on its website
to solicit proposals for targeted collaborative research. If you do not
want be solicited in this manner, please contact: Gina Street, Office
Manager, WERF, 635 Slaters Lane, Alexandria, VA 22314 or email at GStreet@WERF.org. WERF volunteers may
be given web access to WERF’s collaborative workspace.
Research papers, program agenda, or similar materials may be posted to
this area. All postings are controlled and monitored by WERF
staff.
II. Information Provided in
Response to RFPs:
Research proposals may be submitted only by the US Postal Service or
other mail carrier. The information contained in such proposals is
considered confidential and is only shared with WERF employees and
approved volunteers on a “need to know” basis.
III. Online Research Forum
and Webinar Registration
When registering for WERF’s Online Research Forum and webinars
(collectively referred to as “conferences”), you are
providing personally identifiable information which is then shared with
our third party conference providers. Your name, contact
information and organizational affiliation are shared with other
conference participants and conference sponsors. WERF tracks the
participation of its online conference participants using their
personally identifiable information. For example, WERF may track what
booths you visited or seminars that you attended. This information is
used for analytical purposes only and is not shared with third parties.
Our third-party online conference providers may have their own privacy
policies and we advise participants to check for these policies and
review them carefully when they log in to the conference.
Payment Information
Payments for WERF conferences and other transactions are handled through
the PayPal® payment service or by check. PayPal’s privacy
policy applies for all PayPal transactions. WERF only receives
confirmation that an amount has been credited or debited via
PayPal. WERF does not collect or store any payment information such
as credit card or bank account numbers.
IP Addresses and
Cookies
Information from network locations, as opposed to individual IP
addresses, is logged for the purposes of measuring site activity through
a third party vendor. WERF collects and archives basic logging data for
site statistics. These log files show the daily number of visitors to
the WERF site and provide statistics on what content is viewed from
referring sites, direct traffic and search engines. These aggregated
statistics are used internally to provide better service to visitors to
our site. They are not shared with third parties. WERF does not use
cookies on its website. WERF tracks online tool, report and PDF
downloads from subscribers and the general public. This information is
collected in our database, which gives specific information on
individual downloads. A web report is then generated, which breaks
downloads into two categories: member and anonymous. This information is
used for in-house purposes only and is not shared with third
parties.
Data Security
WERF implements physical, electronic and managerial procedures
to ensure that personal and confidential information is protected.
Our servers are housed in a secure location at WERF’s
headquarters. Employee and volunteer access to personal and
confidential information is on a “need-to-know” basis.
Children’s
Privacy
The information provided on the WERF website is intended for high level
scientific research and wastewater and storm water management. It
is not intended for children under the age of 13.
Changes to Our Privacy
Policy
WERF reserves the right to change our privacy policy as
reasonably required to reflect new issues and changes to our
website. We will post changes periodically and ask that you refer
to this policy regularly to ensure that you are aware of any
changes.
Questions About This
Policy/Opting Out of Information Sharing
If you have any questions or concerns about this policy or if you wish
to opt out of any of WERF’s information sharing practices, please
contact: Gina
Street, Office Manager, WERF, 635 Slaters Lane, Alexandria, VA
22314.
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