Privacy Policy

CIA respects the privacy of its members and other visitors to its website. CIA strongly believes that if electronic commerce and online activities are to flourish, consumers must be assured that information provided online is used responsibly and appropriately. To protect online privacy, CIA has implemented the following policy.

What information Does CIA Collect?
Most data CIA collects is used only to help us better serve our members. It is our general policy to collect and store only personal information that our members and visitors knowingly provide. If our privacy policies change, we will notify all users by e-mail or a special announcement placed on the website.

From General Users:
CIA does not collect any personal information from users browsing its website. Only aggregate data, such as the number of hits per page, is collected. Aggregate data is only used for internal and marketing purposes and do not provide any personally identifying information.

From CIA's Members, Conference Registrants, and Other Customers:
To gain access to members-only resources and personalization features on carolinasirr.org, members and other users are asked to register and provide some limited information. This information is submitted voluntarily. CIA asks users to provide their name, member number (for members), organization name, business phone, and e-mail. Similar information may be submitted to CIA through membership applications, meeting and event registration, publication orders, subscriptions, and contest registrations.

Additionally, for some e-mails sent in HTML format by CIA to its members through its listserve and electronic newsletters, we will collect specific information regarding what the recipient does with that email. For those emails, CIA will monitor whether a recipient subsequently clicks through to links provided in the message. Other information collected through this tracking feature includes: email address of a user, the date and time of the user's 'click,' a message number, name of the list from which the message was sent, tracking URL number and destination page. CIA only uses this information to enhance its products and distribution of those products to its members. This information is not sold or distributed in any other manner.

How Does CIA Use Data Collected?
CIA uses information voluntarily submitted by members and other customers in the following ways:

Member Services and Products:
Generally, CIA and its direct subsidiaries use data collected to improve its own web content: to respond to visitors' interests, needs and preferences: and to develop new products and services.

Disclosures to Third Parties:
CIA also makes member contact information available through the CIA Membership Directory to other members using its website On occasion, CIA may provide limited data to third parties that offer products and services. These limited data include names, job titles, companies and business addresses, but do not include business phone numbers, business fax numbers or e-mail addresses. Users may request CIA refrain from disclosing the data it collects to third parties by contacting CIA at [email protected] or (703) 536-7080 to express their preferences if they determine that they do not wish to have the information shared.

Consent to Use Personal Information:
For the purposes of the Data Protection Act(s) 1984 and 1998 (as applicable), CIA or its agents must store, host and otherwise process the information (including personal data) supplied by the User when registering for this website. User supplies as defined above when registering for the website in order to allow CIA (or its designated agents) to use the information to send the user unsolicited direct mail advertisements, promotions, and solicitations for third parties' products and services.

Credit Card Account Information:
CIA does not disclose credit card account information provided by its members and customers. When members and customers choose to pay using their credit cards, CIA submits the information needed to obtain payment to the appropriate clearinghouse.