IGSHPA IS COMMITTED TO PROTECTING YOUR PRIVACY
Our website address is: https://igshpa.org.
This Privacy Policy describes how the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA), directly or through any of its affiliated organizations may collect and use your personal information, and the choices you have concerning our use of such information.
PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. BY ACCESSING OR USING OUR WEBSITES AND APPLICATIONS, (the “Sites”), OR BY SUBMITTING ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS TO OR THROUGH THE SITES, YOU AGREE TO THE COLLECTION AND USE OF SUCH INFORMATION OR MATERIALS BY IGSHPA AND OTHERS AS DESCRIBED HEREIN. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY, OR TO THE COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION OR MATERIALS FROM YOU BY IGSHPA, DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITES.
If you are a user outside of the United States, you recognize and acknowledge that your personal information will be transferred out of your country and into the United States. You consent to such transfer through your use of the Sites or our Products.
VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personal information is data that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of associated with, or reasonably can be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular individual or household.
The Sites allow you to fill out forms for the purpose of learning more about IGSHPA, registering for an event, submitting an abstract, or making general inquiries. You can always elect not to fill out these forms. By filling out these forms, however, you agree to send to us all of the information you input into those forms, including personal information in some cases. These forms may prompt you to fill in your:
- First and Last Name;
- Email address;
- Telephone number;
- Title;
- Company;
- Reason for contacting us; and
- Payment information.
IGSHPA may associate the data you voluntarily disclose to us with the data we collect when you visit the Sites, as well as with data obtained from outside sources. By voluntarily disclosing such information to us, you expressly permit this use of your personal information by IGSHPA. You also should be aware that if you include information such as your name in a comment on the Sites, such information becomes public information, meaning that you lose any privacy rights you might have with regard to that information. Such disclosures also may increase your chances of receiving unwanted communications from third parties.
The Sites link to IGSHPA’s pages on various social networking sites, such Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If you become a fan, follow us, or otherwise interact with IGSHPA on these social networking sites, then we may be able to personally identify you because we may be able to see whatever information you make publicly available about yourself on that social networking site. By doing so, you expressly permit this use of your personal information by IGSHPA.
INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT AUTOMATICALLY
We also may use, collect, track, and store certain data automatically when you visit the Sites, including:
- Your IP address;
- The website that referred you to the Sites;
- The search terms you used to find the Sites;
- Your device information, such as operating system, browser type, and device type, used to access the Sites;
- Session information, including how you use the Sites; and
- Cookies and other technologies, such as pixel tags, described in more detail below, see “Cookies and Online Advertising.”
We might use this information, for example, to better understand visitor behavior, to improve services and advertising, or to provide our members with more useful information about our Sites.
We might aggregate the information we collect in order to make use of it; aggregated data is considered non-personal information for purposes of this Privacy Policy. If we combine non-personal information with personal information, the combined information will be treated as personal information for as long as it remains combined.
APIs AND HOW MY INFORMATION MAY BE SHARED
Some of our Products make use of an application programming interface (an “API”). An API allows our members to automatically retrieve information from our Sites, for use/display elsewhere (e.g. on the member portal). For example, we might use APIs to retrieve the names and membership expiration dates; we could then display that information on the member portal. These examples are for illustrative purposes only.
USE AND SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
IGSHPA and its affiliates may use the personal information you submit, consistent with this Privacy Policy. Our uses may include in order:
- To fulfill your requests to access, purchase and use our Sites, including providing you with receipts, and to provide you with the services you request from us, including by others involved in fulfillment.
- To contact you for customer satisfaction surveys, market research or in connection with certain transactions.
- To provide you with notices such as communications about purchases and changes to our terms, conditions and policies.
- To communicate with you—via telephone, email, SMS or other means—as may be required in the context of our business relationship related to your access, purchase or use of our related services.
- For marketing purposes.
- For internal purposes such as auditing, analysis (e.g., clickstream data) to improve our Sites or our advertising.
- To develop our business relationship.
IGSHPA does not sell or rent any of the personal data we collect or maintain. IGSHPA does not maintain or use any payment information beyond the immediate need to process a transaction.
In the course of meeting our members’ needs and in improving our services, we may share certain data, including personal information, with service providers, vendors, marketing agencies and services, data management and analytics services, affiliates, and contract workers. If you tell us that you do not want your personal information used for further marketing contact, please contact us at and we will respect your wishes.
Additionally, we may store certain data, including personal information, on servers located at third-party data centers. In addition, we may obtain data, including personal information, from outside sources.
IGSHPA may disclose your personal information in connection with a business transaction, such as a sale of all or a portion of our business or assets. In that case, your information may be shared with the prospective purchaser or investor and transferred as part of the transaction.
Other than as described above, IGSHPA discloses your personal information only when permitted to do so by law, or when IGSHPA believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property, rights or safety of IGSHPA, third parties or the public at large. This may include providing or using personal information to comply with any valid legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order or to assist in any legal investigation or other proceeding when we deem necessary or appropriate.
DO NOT TRACK
We may also use data we collect, including personal information, to track visits to the Sites and improve the user experience of the Sites. If you have enabled the Do Not Track feature in your browser, our technology observes that signal and does not utilize information collected through the Sites to further track you. However, we may track clicks from data obtained through other means, including newsletters, promotional offers, and the like. IGSHPA does not authorize third parties to collect your information or to conduct their own online tracking of you while you are on the Sites.
COOKIES AND ONLINE ADVERTISING
As true of most websites, we use cookies or similar tracking technology to collect information about your use of the Sites, which may be used to provide you with advertising or other services that are tailored to you and your interests. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, and you can generally adjust your browser settings in order to delete or block certain cookies.
DATA RETENTION
We retain your personal data relating to the use of our products and services for the duration of the customer relationship and for seven years after the customer account is closed for legal, regulatory, audit and tax requirements, subject to our legal requirements to keep your personal information for a longer period. After this period has expired, the personal information relating to your account and your use of the services will be deleted. Any personal information which you have provided to us for marketing purposes will be kept for these purposes until you notify us that you no longer wish to receive these communications.
SECURITY
IGSHPA takes very seriously the security of the information we collect and maintain. To prevent unauthorized access or disclosures, we utilize physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect all of the information we collect and maintain, including any personal information you voluntarily provide. Please be aware that, although we endeavor to provide appropriate security for the information we collect and maintain, no security system can prevent all potential security breaches.
CHILDREN
The Sites are not directed to children and we do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with information without their consent, he or she should contact us at . We will delete such data from our files upon request.
CHOICE AND OPT-OUT
We only send permission-based email for notification of membership or certification expiration data, for industry updates, and for marketing purposes. In addition, users always have the opportunity to opt-out or change preferences via a link in the footer of all non-transactional email messages. These options are made available when you sign-up for our email lists and in email messages delivered from our company. Alternatively, you may email us at . If you believe that you have received an unsolicited commercial email from IGSHPA on behalf of any of our customers, you may report it to us at .
Some communications (e.g. important account notifications and billing information) are considered transactional and are necessary for members and certified individuals. Please note that unsubscribing from e-mail messages will also remove notification of membership and certification expiration dates. It will be your responsibility to contact us for renewal of membership or certification if you have opted out of e-mail messages.
REVIEWING AND REQUESTING CHANGES TO PERSONAL INFORMATION
You may review and request changes to the personal information we maintain about you by contacting us via email at . Please note that some information may remain in our records after your request is submitted.
LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES
This Privacy Policy only applies to information collected by IGSHPA. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies or other parties that IGSHPA does not own or control, or their employees that IGSHPA does not manage. The Sites may contain links to third party websites. Any information you provide to, or that is collected by, third-party sites may be subject to the privacy policies of those sites, if any. We encourage you to read such privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit. It is the sole responsibility of such third parties to adhere to any applicable restrictions on the disclosure of your personal information, and by using the Sites you agree that IGSHPA and its affiliates shall not be liable for the wrongful use or disclosure of your personal information by any third party.
CROSS-BORDER TRANSFER OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
The Sites are operated in the United States. Therefore, your personal information may be transferred to and stored in the United States or other countries with data protection laws that differ from the country where you are located. Your personal information may be available to government authorities under lawful orders and laws applicable in such foreign jurisdictions.
UPDATES TO PRIVACY POLICY
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and in our sole discretion. When we do so, you will see the changes on this page, and we will update the effective date of the Privacy Policy on the Sites. In all cases, IGSHPA’s use of the information we collect is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is collected.
CONTACT US
If have any questions regarding our privacy practices, please contact us at .
Updated on August 14, 2023.