OpenCon2016.org Privacy Policy
Last modified: 29th of May 2015 (minor update on Feb 10 2016 and May 14th to correct URLs).
Welcome to OpenCon2016.org, a website and online service of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, hereby known as SPARC. The “Right to Research Coalition” and “OpenCon” are both programs of SPARC. SPARC knows that you care how information about you is used and shared. This Privacy Policy explains what information of yours will be collected by SPARC when you use our online services, how the information will be used, and how you can control the collection, correction and/or deletion of information. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information we collect by other means (including offline) or from other sources.
Information We Collect
User-Provided Information: You provide us information about yourself, such as your name and e-mail address, if you register for a OpenCon2016.org account or complete a form on OpenCon2016.org (including by “following,” “liking,” linking your account to OpenCon2016.org, etc., on a third party website or network). If you correspond with us by email, we may retain the content of your email messages, your email address and our responses. We may also retain any messages you send through OpenCon2016.org. You may provide us information in user content you post to OpenCon2016.org.
Third Party Services
SPARC uses the NationBuilder platform to organize our community of members, supporters and prospects. You can read more about that company and its features and policies at NationBuilder.com. When you visit OpenCon2016.org, NationBuilder may send one or more cookies - a small text file containing a string of alphanumeric characters - to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser and lets NationBuilder help you log in faster and enhance your navigation through OpenCon2016.org. A cookie does not collect personal information about you. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive after you close your browser. Persistent cookies may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser’s directions. 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 OpenCon2015.org may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled. You can read more about how the NationBuilder service interacts with and protects your information at nationbuilder.com/privacy and nationbuilder.com/confidentiality.
SPARC uses Google Analytics to help understand use of OpenCon2016.org. This service collects the information sent by your browser as part of a web page request, including cookies and your IP address, and their use of it is governed by their Privacy Policy.
How We Use Your Information
We use the personal information you submit to operate, maintain, and provide to you the features and functionality of OpenCon2016.org and only in service of SPARC’s mission.
By providing OpenCon2016.org and SPARC your email address (including by “following,” “liking,” linking your account to OpenCon2016.org, etc., on a third party website or network), you consent to our using the email address to send you OpenCon-related notices, including any notices required by law, in lieu of communication by postal mail. You also agree that we may send you notifications of activity on OpenCon2016.org to the email address you give us, in accordance with any applicable privacy settings. We may use your email address to send you other messages, such as newsletters, changes to features of OpenCon2016.org, or other information. However, please note that even if you do so, we may need to contact you to respond to direct inquiries you make to us, or as required by law.
In service of SPARC’s mission, SPARC may release information about you as Open Data under a CC0 license. It will be made clear when, and what, information will be released and you will be asked to re-consent to this release.
Following termination or deactivation of your OpenCon2016.org account, OpenCon2016.org may retain your profile information and user content for a reasonable time for archival purposes. Furthermore, OpenCon2016.org may retain and continue to use indefinitely all information (including user content) contained in your communications to other users or posted to public or semi-public areas of OpenCon2016.org after termination or deactivation of your account.
SPARC reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor the user content you post on OpenCon2016.org. We reserve the right to remove any such information or material for any reason or no reason, including without limitation if in our sole opinion such information or material violates, or may violate, any applicable law or to protect or defend our rights or property or those of any third party. SPARC also reserves the right to remove information upon the request of any third party.
How We Share Your Information
Personally Identifiable Information: SPARC will not rent or sell your personally identifiable information to others. SPARC may share your personally identifiable information with third parties for the purpose of providing OpenCon2016.org services to you. If we do this, such third parties’ use of your information will be bound by this Privacy Policy. We may store personal information in locations outside the direct control of SPARC (for instance, on servers or databases co-located with hosting providers). SPARC may share limited personally identifiable information with allied organisations to provide you with opportunities related to OpenCon and SPARC’s mission.
Any personal information or content that you voluntarily disclose for posting to OpenCon2016.org, such as user content, becomes available to the public, as controlled by any applicable privacy or website customization settings. If you remove information that you posted to OpenCon2016.org, copies may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or if other users have copied or saved that information.
Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, SPARC will not disclose personal information to any third party unless required to do so by law or subpoena or if we believe that such action is necessary to (a) conform to the law, comply with legal process served on us or our affiliates, or investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities; (b) to enforce this policy, take precautions against liability, to investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, to assist government enforcement agencies, or to protect the security or integrity of our site; and (c) to exercise or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of OpenCon2016.org, our users or others.
How We Protect Your Information
SPARC cares about the integrity and security of your personal information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to SPARC or guarantee that your information on the service may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. Your privacy settings may also be affected by changes to the functionality of third-party providers, such as social networks. SPARC is not responsible for the functionality or security measures of any third party.
To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps (such as requesting a unique password) to verify your identity before granting you access to your account. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your unique password and account information, and for controlling access to your email communications from SPARC, at all times.
Compromise of Personal Information
In the event that personal information is compromised as a result of a breach of security, SPARC will promptly notify those persons whose personal information has been compromised, in accordance with the notification procedures set forth in this Privacy Policy, or as otherwise required by applicable law.
Your Choices About Your Information
You may, of course, decline to submit personally identifiable information through OpenCon2016.org, in which case SPARC may not be able to provide certain services to you. You can review and correct the information about you that OpenCon2016.org keeps on file by contacting us directly at [email protected]
Children's Privacy
Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important. For that reason, SPARC does not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to register for OpenCon2016.org accounts. If you are under 13, please do not send any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address. No one under age 13 is allowed to provide any personal information to or on OpenCon2016.org. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at [email protected]
Links to Other Web Sites
We are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from OpenCon2016.org, nor the information or content contained therein. Please remember that when you use a link to go from OpenCon2016.org to another website, our Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. Your browsing and interaction on any other website, including those that have a link on our website, is subject to that website's own rules and policies. Please read over those rules and policies before proceeding.
Notification Procedures
It is our policy to provide notifications, whether such notifications are required by law or are for marketing or other business related purposes, to you via email notice, written or hard copy notice, or through conspicuous posting of such notice on OpenCon2016.org, as determined by SPARC in its sole discretion. We reserve the right to determine the form and means of providing notifications to you, provided that you may opt out of certain means of notification as described in this Privacy Policy.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
If we change our privacy policies and procedures, we will post those changes on OpenCon2016.org/privacy to keep you aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we may disclose it. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this website, please contact us at Nick [at] sparcopen [dot] org, or send mail to:
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
Attn: Nick Shockey, Re: Privacy Policy
21 Dupont Circle NW Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036 USA