Privacy Policy
The CardioSmart.org site ("Site") is owned and operated by the American College of Cardiology Foundation ("ACCF"), 2400 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037. ACCF is committed to maintaining your confidence and trust with respect to the information we collect from you. This privacy policy sets forth the information we collect about you, how we use this information, and the choices you have about how we use such information.
COOKIES
Like most web sites, this Site collects information regarding your use of the Site through the use of cookies. Cookies are anonymous, unique alphanumeric identifiers sent to your browser from a website’s computers and stored on your computer. The type of information we collect as a result of a cookie being stored on your computer includes the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; computer and connection information such as browser type and version, operating system, and platform; click stream data, including date and time, cookie number and content you viewed or searched for on the Site.
We collect and use, and may from time to time supply third parties with, non-personally identifiable information as anonymous, aggregated user data for the purposes of site usage analysis, quality control and improving the Site. We use temporary "session" cookies to maintain information we need to have in order for you to view articles and browse from page to page. We use “persistent” cookies to give you a more personalized browsing experience and to help you navigate the Site more efficiently. In all cases in which cookies are used, the cookie will not collect personally identifiable information except with your explicit permission. You can prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or disable cookies altogether by accessing your browser’s preferences menu. If you choose to disable cookies altogether, you can use the Site but may not be able to login to the Site with a personal User Name and Password or make use of the advanced personalization features of the Site.
COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION
We sometimes request users of the Site to provide personally identifiable information. The information collected from a user is strictly voluntary. In order to access certain content and to make use of the advanced personalization features of the Site, you must register and obtain a personal User Name and Password. If you register, you may be asked for your contact information, including but not limited to your name, e-mail address, postal address, work setting, profession, principal professional field and country of residence ("Personal Information"). The Personal Information is linked directly to a personal User Name and Password chosen by the user and can only be retrieved by supplying the correct User Name and Password that is linked to that profile.
HOW PERSONAL INFORMATION IS USED
We use the Personal Information that you provide for such purposes as: completion and support of the activity for which the information was provided, including but not limited to allowing access to or delivery of our products or services or responding to your requests or inquiries. We also may use the Personal Information for Site and system administration, including but not limited to providing technical support of the Site and its computer system, including processing computer account information, information used in the course of securing and maintaining the Site, and verification of Site activity by the Site or its agents; tailoring or customizing content or design of the Site during a single visit to the Site and individualized personalization of the Site on repeat visits; research and development to enhance, evaluate and improve the Site and our services; analysis to create a profile used to determine the habits, interests or other characteristics of users for purposes of research, analysis and anonymous reporting, and communicating with you about changes or updates to the Site or, with your consent, special offers or promotions.
DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES
Access to your Personal Information is restricted to use by ACCF and entities acting as our agents, representatives, or partners. If you give us your consent, we also may share your Personal Information with affiliated and/or non-affiliated third parties whose products and services may be of interest to you, and registered users who have consented to receiving such information may receive e-mails from these third parties. If you wish us to pass your Personal Information to third parties, please check the appropriate check box when you register for personalized services or access or amend your preferences accordingly by logging in and clicking on your "My account" link at any time.
We will not otherwise disclose any Personal Information without your consent except as stated herein and in response to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our rights to defend against legal claims; and if we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, safety of person or property, violation of our policies, or as otherwise required by law.
PURCHASES/SUBSCRIPTIONS
When you purchase or subscribe to ACCF products or services on the Site, we collect details of the products and services associated with your purchase, as well as your credit card and billing address details, and use this information with your Personal Information in order to enable us to process your transaction. We use your credit card and billing address details to bill you for the purchase and, if necessary to process the transaction, may pass this information on to third parties. This information is collected using encryption technology to help prevent any unauthorized third party from intercepting the information. Your credit card information is only used for completing the purchase transaction and is retained only as necessary for administration purposes.
ACCESS AND CHANGES TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND PREFERENCES
You may click on your “My account” link at any time in order to access your identified contact information and other Personal Information and correct any discrepancies or update your information. The accuracy of such information is solely the responsibility of the user. No access is given to other data that may have been collected about users.
If you wish to receive alerts, news, special offers or promotions from the Site, please click the appropriate check box when you register for personalized services or access or amend your preferences by logging in and clicking on the relevant link at any time. If you wish to cease receiving any of this information, you may amend your preferences by logging in and clicking on the relevant link, or by using the “opt-out” or unsubscribe option provided within the communications you receive. We reserve the right to notify you of changes or updates to the Site whenever necessary.
To help us make e-mails more useful and interesting for registered users, we may receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from the Site. We also compare our registered user list to lists received from other companies, in an effort to avoid sending unnecessary messages to our registered users.
RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We retain the Personal Information we collect from you for as long as the information is relevant to our business purposes or until you request that we remove the data by contacting ACCF at the mailing address or email address detailed below.
OUR COMMITMENT TO DATA SECURITY
We recognize that your privacy is important to you, and therefore, we endeavor to keep your Personal Information confidential. The Personal Information about each user is stored on servers that are behind a firewall and physically housed within a secure data center. Furthermore, our internal practices help protect your privacy by limiting employee access to and use of Personal Information. However, we do not represent, warrant, or guarantee that your personal information will be protected against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or alterations, and do not accept any liability for the security of the Personal Information submitted to us nor for your or third parties' use or misuse of Personal Information.
USE OF GOOGLE PRODUCTS
We use Google Universal (GUA) for tracking and reporting Site activity. GUA collects information such as how often users visit the Site, what pages they visit on the Site, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the Site. This allows us to better understand our users and to optimize their digital experience. We use the Google User ID features to associate data from the different devices and multiple sessions of users and we may stitch together session data from unauthenticated user visits with authenticated user visits to give us a more accurate count of our Site users in order to improve Site usage data. We use data from the Google Display Network with GUA for demographic and interest reports to better understand and serve our audience. We may connect GUA data with data from our registered user database to understand the usage and needs of our registered users. Google prohibits the transmission of personally identifiable information to GUA, and we will not transmit any such information to GUA.
We use Google’s AdWords and Remarketing features to advertise online. Third-party vendors, including Google, show our ads on sites across the Internet. We and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on your past visits to our website. You can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Ads Settings (http://www.google.com/settings/ads).
You have choices:
WEBTRENDS
WebTrends tracks and analyzes personally identifiable usage and volume statistical information from visitors and members on Site. All data collected by WebTrends on our behalf is owned and used by the ACCF.
ABOUT THIS PRIVACY POLICY
The foregoing is the current privacy policy of the Site. We reserve the right to change this policy at any time without notice. Any changes to this policy will be posted on this webpage. Our policy does not create a contract or any legal rights.
This privacy policy applies solely to the information you provide while visiting this Site. The terms of this privacy policy do not govern Personal Information furnished through any means other than this Site (such as via telephone or postal mail).
This Site may contain links to other websites that are beyond our control. Other websites to which you link may contain privacy policies that are different from this privacy policy. We encourage you to check the privacy policy of each website you visit before submitting any information to them.
QUESTIONS, COMPLAINTS, AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION
If you have any questions or comments regarding this privacy policy, please contact ACCF at the following mailing address or email address:
American College of Cardiology Foundation CardioSmart 2400 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
cardiosmart@acc.org
If at any time you believe that we have not adhered to this privacy policy or you have a complaint regarding the way your Personal Information is being handled, please contact ACCF. Disputes under this privacy policy will be resolved by ACCF, which will use reasonable efforts to promptly investigate and, if necessary, to correct any problem.
