AOSSM Privacy Policy
Effective October 4th, 2022
The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (“AOSSM”, “our”, “us” or “we”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy policy (and as amended from time to time as posted on our website here “Privacy Policy”) describes how AOSSM collects, uses, retains, and shares the Personal Data of our website visitors or when you use and interact with our website Services and applies to all persons who provide us with Personal Data or use our Services (“Users”, “you” or “your”). Our Privacy Policy governs your access to and use of all AOSSM operated and controlled websites including http://www.sportsmed.org and http://my.sportsmed.org (collectively, the “Website”), registering and attending any of our events or programs, applying for grants, participating in our surveys, or availing yourself of our publicly available online resources and services controlled or provided by AOSSM (collectively, the “Services”).
If you have questions about AOSSM’s Privacy Policy or practices, or if you need to contact us about the information we collect about you, our contact information is at the end of this Privacy Policy.
Applicability & Eligibility
Applicability
This Privacy Policy applies only to the Services and AOSSM’s collection, use, disclosure, and protection of your Personal Data (as defined below). It does not apply to third party websites, applications, or services.
Before accessing, using, or interacting with the Services you should carefully review this Privacy Policy. By visiting our Website or purchasing or using our Services in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept the terms, practices and policies described in this Privacy Policy (and as updated from time to time), and you hereby consent that we may collect, use, and share your information as described herein. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website or our Services. Your use of the Website and our Services is at all times subject to our Terms of Use (available here and as updated from time to time (the “Terms”)), which is incorporated by reference herein. Any capitalized terms we use in this Privacy Policy without defining them have the definitions given to them in the Terms.
Eligibility To Use The Services
The Services are not directed to children under the age of 18. You may not use the Services if you are under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect, solicit or maintain Personal Data from anyone under the age of 18 or knowingly allow such persons to register for our Services. If you are under 18, please do not send any Personal Data about yourself (such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address) to us. In the event that we learn that we have collected Personal Data from a child under age 16 without verification of parental consent, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to delete that information from our database. Please contact us if you have any concerns.
Information Covered by This Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy covers our treatment of personally identifiable information. “Personal Data” means any unencrypted or non-deidentified information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked with a particular person such as, but not limited to, your name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, etc. Please see additional information below on the particular information we may collect.
Personal Data does not include your Personal Data that has been deidentified, pseudonymized, anonymized, aggregated, and/or otherwise processed so as to be unidentifiable in such a way that the data can no longer be attributed to a specific individual (by reasonable means) without the use of additional information, and where such additional information is kept separate and under adequate security to prevent unauthorized re-identification of a specific individual such that one could not, using reasonable efforts, link such information back to a specific individual (collectively, all of the foregoing in this sentence being referred to as “De-Identified Personal Data”).
We may also collect Personal Data from you through means other than our Website. This may include offline collection, such as if you submit a paper application, make a payment by check, or call or visit our office. It may also include emails, text messages, or other electronic communications that you send to us separate from our Website or by way of our third party service providers. However, if we combine the Personal Data we collect from you outside of our Website with Personal Data that is collected through our Website or by another means as described above, the Privacy Policy will apply to the combined information, unless specifically disclosed otherwise.
How We Collect Personal Data and from What Sources
AOSSM collects data about you and your use of the Services (“Personal Data”) through various means, including when you provide information to us such as when you join, sign up for a membership, donate, register for events, webinars and self-assessment examinations, apply for awards and grants, agree to serve as faculty for a meeting, sign up for traveling fellowships and submit an abstract, and when we automatically collect information about you when you access, use, or interact with the Services.
The types of Personal Data AOSSM may collect about you include as listed below.
Category |
Specific Items of Personal Data |
Identifiers |
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Demographic |
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Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law |
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Biometric Information |
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Commercial Information |
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Internet or other electronic network activity |
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Geolocation |
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Professional or employment information |
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Education information that is not publicly available personally identifiable information (pursuant to FERPA) |
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Inferences drawn from any of the above to create a profile of a consumer |
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Other information |
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Information You Provide To Us:
AOSSM Membership & Event Information: AOSSM collects certain Personal Data from you when you join the AOSSM or register for AOSSM events. “Personal Data” refers to information about you that may be used to identify you, such as your first name, last name, title, email address, phone number, mailing address, and faculty and speaker information AOSSM uses this information to provide your membership, register you for events, provide information about memberships and events, and administer your registrations with AOSSM.
AOSSM Account Information: AOSSM may require you to register for an account (an “AOSSM Account”) in order to use certain Services. We do not require you to register to use all of our Services. However if you do register for Services for which an AOSSM Account is required, you will gain access to those areas and features of the Services that require registration. AOSSM will collect certain information about you in connection with your registration for your AOSSM Account, which may include username, password, personal profile, pictures, your location, and information about your contacts. Some of your AOSSM Account information may be displayed publicly. You are not required to provide your Personal Data; however, if you choose to not provide certain Personal Data, we may not be able to provide you with certain Services.
Other Demographic and Information Related to Membership Eligibility: AOSSM may collect certain information about you in conjunction with your membership including practice information, committee service, education and activities history, sponsor forms, personal statements and references, sports specialty and medical licensure.
Payment Transaction Information: We may collect and store information related to purchases and donations made through the Services. You may need to provide to our third-party payment processor certain information to complete payments via the Services, including your credit or debit card number, card expiration date, CVV code, and billing address (collectively, “Payment Information”), along with your name and billing, delivery and shipping address, to complete payment transactions through certain Services. Please note AOSSM works with Service Providers (as defined below) to process payment transactions. AOSSM does not itself collect or maintain your credit card or other financial account information. You are subject to the privacy policies and terms and conditions of our Service Providers when purchasing an AOSSM membership, shopping for AOSSM products, registering for events or making donations, the terms of which may differ from those of AOSSM for the AOSSM Services. Please review the Service Providers’ privacy policies and terms and conditions before using their services.
Form Information: We may use online forms to request certain information from you in order to perform certain Services, such as your location to assist you in locating our products, or your contact information to assist with contacts or service requests. This information may include Personal Data.
Correspondence Information: If you sign up for a membership, register or attend a conference or event, email us, subscribe to our newsletters mailing lists, publications, or blogs, we may keep your message, email address, and contact information to respond to your requests, provide the requested products or Services, and to provide notifications or other correspondences to you. If you do not want to receive email from us in the future, you may let us know by sending us an email or by writing to us at the address below. Please note requests to remove your email address from our lists may take some time to fulfill. We may also still contact you as needed to provide important announcements or notifications regarding the Services.
Support Information: You may provide information to us via a support request submitted through the Services. We will use this information to assist you with your support request and may maintain this information to assist you or other Users with support requests. Please do not submit any confidential or sensitive information to us via a support submission that you do not wish for AOSSM or our Service Providers to have access to or use.
Information We Collect Automatically:
Behavioral Tracking. We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services, or associate Personal Data with other information collected in this manner.
Keystrokes. We or our service providers may keep track of and/or collect the keystrokes and cursor movements of Website visitors before purchase of a Product or Service from our Website (and before we have any email address or other information about you (other than IP address) which would specifically identify you), but, this information is anonymous and, at the time of collection, we do not directly associate or attempt to associate this information with you as an identifiable individual. If you sign up to receive our emails (e.g., through the popup box that appears) we then do have the ability going forward to associate the keystroke and cursor information with the email address you provide. We use this information solely for the purpose of improving our Website to improve our customers’ user experience (e.g., improving navigation, readability, etc.).
The information we collect automatically is statistical data and may include Personal Data, and we may maintain it or associate it with Personal Data we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Website and to deliver better and more personalized Products and Services, including, but not limited to, by enabling us to: estimate our audience/visitor size and usage patterns, store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize and improve our Website, speed up your searches, and/or, recognize you when you return to our Website.
Location. Our mobile application includes functionality which allows our attendees to identify their location at the event, in certain cases. Application users choose to use the application anonymously or to login as an identified user, in which case the personal data provided upon registration may be used. Information such as IP address, device ID and location is gathered.
Cookie Notice/Policy. The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include cookies, local storage cookies, web beacons, pixel tracking, GIF, and/or IP address. Each of these is discussed below.
Cookies (or browser cookies)
A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer or mobile device. It may contain certain data, including, but not limited to: the name of the server that has placed it there, an identifier in the form of a unique number, and, an expiration date (some cookies only). Cookies are managed by the web browser on your computer or mobile device (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Google Chrome).
Different types of cookies which have different purposes are used on our Website.
Essential Cookies
These cookies are essential to allow you to browse our Website and use its functions. Without them, services such as shopping baskets and electronic invoicing would not be able to work.
Performance Cookies
These cookies collect information on the use of our Website, such as which pages are consulted most often. This information enables us to optimize our Website and simplify browsing. Performance cookies also enable our affiliates and partners to find out whether you have accessed one of our Website pages from their site and whether your visit has led to the use or purchase of a Product or Service from our Website, including the references for the Product or Service purchased. These cookies do not collect any information which could be used to identify you. All the information collected is aggregated, and therefore anonymous.
Functionality Cookies
These cookies enable our Website to remember the choices you have made when browsing. For example, we can store your geographical location in a cookie so that the Website corresponding to your area is shown. We can also remember your preferences, such as the text size, font and other customizable aspects of the Website. Functionality cookies may also be able to keep track of the products or videos consulted to avoid repetition. The information collected by these cookies cannot be used to identify you and cannot monitor your browsing activity on sites which do not belong to us.
It is possible that you will come across third-party cookies on some pages of sites that are not under our control.
We also use cookies to implement tracking technology on our Website. This allows us to display advertising that is tailored to you on our Website, to understand which parts of our content interest you the most, and which Product or Service categories you request. This tracking uses De-Identified Personal Data. Some of our service providers are allowed to place cookies on our Website. Those companies may also provide you with the option of preventing the use of cookies in the future. For more information, contact the relevant third-party provider.
At any time, you can prevent the use of cookies in the future. You may activate the appropriate setting in your browser to refuse to accept browser cookies. However, if you do, your experience on our Website may be affected; e.g., you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
Local Storage Cookies
Certain features of our Website may use local stored objects (to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from and on our Website. Local storage cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
Web Beacons. Pages of our Website and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
Pixel Tracking. In addition to using cookies, the Website may employ “pixel tracking”, a common process which may be used in connection with advertisements on other sites. Pixel tracking involves the use of pixel tags that are not visible to the user and consist of a few lines of computer code. Pixel tracking measures the effectiveness of advertisements and compiles aggregate and specific usage statistics. A “pixel tag” is an invisible tag placed on certain pages of websites that is used to track an individual user’s activity. We may access these pixel tags to identify activity and interests that may allow us to better match our products, services, and offers with your interests and needs. For example, if you visit our Website from an advertisement on another website, the pixel tag will allow the advertiser to track that its advertisement brought you to the Website. If you visit our Website, and we link you to another website, we may also be able to determine that you were sent to and/or transacted with a third-party website. This data is collected for use in our marketing, research, and other activities.
GIF. We may use tiny images known as clear GIFs to track behavior of users, including statistics on who opens our emails.
IP Address. Our servers (or those of our service providers) automatically record certain log file information reported from your browser when you access the Website. These server logs may include information such as which pages of the Website you visited, your internet protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, and other information on how you interact with the Website. These log files are generally deleted periodically.
Membership Directory Content: In addition to data collected by us, members may update or supplement data provided in our Membership Directory. We permit members to upload and share user-generated content, such as photographs and resumes, with us or other members. The directory is not intended as a place for members to post third-party Content. We expect our members to respect the copyrights, intellectual property rights and data protection rights of others at all times. Our Membership Directory area is provided as a service to members to foster scientific and clinical information exchange. The use of the data for any commercial purposes by anyone other than us is expressly forbidden. If you feel that your data in this Membership Directory has been used inappropriately, please contact us.
Log File Information: When you use our Services, we may receive log file information such as your IP address, browser type, access times, domain names operating system, the referring web page(s), pages visited, location, your mobile carrier, device information (including device and application IDs), search terms, and cookie information. We receive log file data when you interact with our Services, for example, when you visit our websites, sign into our Services, or interact with our email notifications. AOSSM uses log file data to provide, understand, and improve our Services, and to customize the content we show you. AOSSM may link this log file to other information AOSSM collects about you via the Services.
Public Information: AOSSM may also collect information about you from publicly available sources. Information you make publicly available in any public or open forum, such as on a social network, may be considered public information for the purposes of this Privacy Policy, and may be accessed and collected by AOSSM. Please be aware that any content or information you share with or provide to third parties using or related to your use of the Services is neither private, nor confidential. AOSSM is not responsible for any content or information you post or share with third parties. If you do not wish for certain information to be public, please do not share it.
Information We Collect from Third Parties
We may collect information that others provide about you when you use the Website, or obtain information from other sources and combine that with information we collect through the Website.
- Third Party Services. If you link, connect, or login to your account with a third party social media service (e.g., Facebook, Google, Instagram, Yelp, etc.), the third party service may send us information such as your registration and profile information from that service. This information varies and is controlled by that service or as authorized by you via your privacy settings at that service.
- Other Sources. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may receive additional information about you, such as demographic data or fraud detection information, from third party service providers and/or partners, and combine it with information we have about you. For example, we may receive background check results or fraud warnings from service providers like identity verification services for our fraud prevention and risk assessment efforts. We may receive information about you and your activities on and off the Website through partnerships, or about your experiences and interactions from our partner ad networks. Other examples of such providers include, but are not limited to, backend processing, fulfillment, and automation, certification, video hosting platform, email management, authentication, form processing, website usage tracking, managing calendar invites and scheduling, and database hosting and management.
Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website are served by third parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers and application providers. First-party or third-party cookies may be used alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our Website. A first-party cookie is a cookie set by the domain name that appears in the browser address bar. A third-party cookie is a cookie set by (and on) a domain name that is not the domain name that appears in the browser address bar. It might be set as part of a side resource load (image, JS, iframe, etc., from a different hostname) or an AJAX HTTP request to a third-party server. The information that first-party and third-party cookies collect may be associated with your Personal Data or they may collect information, including Personal Data, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services (i.e., tracking such activities). They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.
We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. More information on how to opt-out of third-party advertiser tracking mechanisms here.
Google Tools. We use tools provided by Google as described below.
Google Analytics. We use, and some of our third-party service providers may use, Google Analytics (click for link to Google’s website) or other analytics service to help us understand the use of our Website and Services. Google Analytics is a web analysis service provided by Google. Google utilizes data it collects to track and examine the use of our Website to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services. Google may use the Data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. The Personal Data collected and processed may include cookies, usage data, and other internet information. Such service providers may place their own cookies in your browser. This Privacy Policy covers use of cookies by us only and not the use of cookies by third parties
Google AdSense Advertising. We use Google AdSense Advertising (or other search engine or display network advertising) on our website. Google’s advertising requirements and principles are available here. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. We have implemented the following: (a) Remarketing with Google AdSense and (b) Google Display Network Impression Reporting.
Google DART Cookie. Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our Website. Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on previous visits to our Website and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Ad and Content Network privacy policy.
We, along with third-party vendors such as Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our Website.
Google DoubleClick Cookie. We work with DoubleClick Cookie Google, a third-party vendor, which uses cookies to serve ads on our Website. Google’s use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our Website or other websites on the Internet. You may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick Cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting the Google Ads Settings web page here.
Google Maps/Google Earth. We also use Google Maps (including the Google Maps API(s)) and/or Google Earth, which may, among other things, request access to your geolocation, and both of which are subject to their own terms of use and privacy policy.
Google reCAPTCHA. We use Google reCAPTCHA, which identifies bots by collecting hardware and software information and sending that data to Google for analysis. More about Google reCAPTCHA is available here.
Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out page or by using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add-on.
Posting Content:
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Data, for one or more of the following purposes:
Uses of Personal Data |
To present our Website and its contents to you. |
To provide you with information and respond to your questions on Products or Services that you request from us and information on new products and services, discounts, special promotions or upcoming events, and features or offers that we believe will be of interest to you. |
To provide you with the Products, Services, or information that you have requested. |
To process transaction payments, including, but not limited to, Product and/or Service fees, subscription fees, professional fees, membership dues, registration fees, voluntary contributions, examination fees, credential and designation fees, and payments, refunds and reimbursements for any products or services that you choose to purchase from us (though we do not receive your credit or debit card number). |
To process discounts, offers, loyalty rewards, and/or rebate requests, forms, and applications and coordinate with the manufacturer, retailer and/or wholesaler. |
To provide you with notices about your account, including expiration and renewal notices. |
To notify you about information regarding or changes to our Website, our policies, terms, or any Products or Services we offer or provide, or regarding your account. |
To process your account application and any changes to your account information. |
To process Personal Data or other information that you submit through to us. |
To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website. |
To contact you about our own and third-parties’ products and services that may be of interest to you. |
To provide access to restricted parts of our Website, e.g., areas accessible if you have a user account. |
To enhance and improve our Products and Services, for example, by performing internal research, analyzing user trends, and measuring demographics and interests. |
For internal purposes, such as Website or Service and system operation, administration, maintenance, internal audits and reviews, diagnosing technical problems, and maintaining security. |
To provide statistics about the usage levels of the Website and other related information to our service providers. |
To notify you of data privacy incidents or provide you with legally required information. |
To contact you regarding a promotion, contest, or sweepstakes in which you have participated. |
To request your participation in ratings, reviews, surveys, focus groups, or other initiatives which help us to gather information used to develop and enhance our Products and Services. |
To determine eligibility for membership, credentials, designations, or volunteer opportunities. |
To evaluate your performance on continued learning courses and assist you in the tracking of your progress. |
For examination or event registration, scheduling, event attendance, administration and related purposes. |
To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide Personal Data. |
In any other way we may describe and for which we obtain your consent when you provide the information and you give your consent. |
We use cookies, clear gifs, and log file information to: (a) remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit the Website; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) monitor the effectiveness of our Services; (d) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, and demographic patterns; (e) diagnose or fix technology problems reported by our users or engineers that are associated with certain IP addresses; and/or, (f) help you efficiently access your information after you sign in.
We may use your Personal Data you provide us and which we obtain from other sources to better understand your interests so we can try to predict what other products, services and information you might be most interested in. This practice involves making automated decisions about you based on this information in order to better enable us to tailor our interactions with you to make them more relevant and interesting. You may object to our doing this at any time by contacting us (see Contact Information/User Rights below).
We may use the information we have collected from you to enable us to display advertisements to our advertisers’ target audiences. Even though we do not disclose your Personal Data for these purposes without your consent, if you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement, the advertiser may assume that you meet its target criteria.
Text Messages. Our Services may include sending you Short Message Service (“SMS”) messages, which may deliver up to two messages per day to your wireless device (unless you communicate further with us), but message frequency may vary. We may use your information to contact you about your membership, events, purchases, returns (if available), Website updates, conduct surveys, or informational and service-related communications, including important security updates. You may remove your information by replying “STOP” to the SMS text message you received. After you send the SMS message “STOP” to us, we will send you an SMS message to confirm that you have been unsubscribed. Alternatively, you may submit your request by email to us, including the email address and phone number you registered with us, or by any reasonable means. After this, you will no longer receive SMS messages from us. If you want to join again, just sign up as you did the first time and we will start sending SMS messages to you again. For help, please reply to a text with HELP. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your cell phone plan. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
Information Sharing
We may or do disclose your Personal Data, in whole or in part, to the following types of third parties, and for one or more of the following purposes:
- Data storage or hosting providers for the secure storage and transmission of your data
- Database and software service providers for the management and tracking of your data
- Technology providers who assist in the development and management of our Website
- Legal and compliance consultants, such as external counsel, external auditors, or tax consultants
- Payment solution providers for the secure processing of payments you provide to us
- Outbound call center providers, who may perform outreach on our behalf regarding our products and Services
- Manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers for submission, processing, and management of rebates, discounts, offers, loyalty rewards, and the like
- Fulfillment and shipping vendors for the fulfillment of our Products and Services
- Survey and research providers who perform studies on our behalf
- Publishers and learning providers who develop products on our behalf
- Learning technology and online event providers for the delivery and improvement of web events and learning programs and the tracking of your progress
- Advertising partners, including social media providers, for the delivery of targeted advertisements
- Marketing providers who may sell mailing lists
AOSSM Representatives: AOSSM’s personnel, members and volunteers may have access to your information as needed to provide and operate the Services in the normal course of business. This includes information regarding your use and interaction with the Services.
Service Providers: AOSSM works with various organizations and individuals to help provide the Services to you ("Service Providers"), such as website and data hosting companies and companies providing analytics information, like Google Analytics. We may share your Personal Data with our Service Providers for the purpose of providing the Services. The information we share to our Service Providers may include both information you provide to us and information we collect about you, including Personal Data and information from data collection tools like cookies, web beacons, log files, Unique Identifiers, and location data. AOSSM takes reasonable steps to ensure that our Service Providers are obligated to reasonably protect your information on AOSSM’s behalf. If AOSSM becomes aware that a Service Provider is using or disclosing information improperly, we will take commercially reasonable steps to end or correct such improper use or disclosure.
Required Disclosures. Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, we will not disclose your Personal Data to any third party unless required to do so by law, court order, legal process, or subpoena, including, but not limited to, in order to respond to any government, regulatory, or licensing request, or if we believe that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law, comply with legal process served on us or our affiliates, subsidiaries, contracted vendors, or affinity partners, or investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities; (b) enforce our Terms or customer agreement (including for billing and collection purposes); (c) take precautions against liability; (d) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations; (e) assist government enforcement agencies or to meet national security requirements; (f) to protect the security or integrity of our Website, our Products, Services; or, (g) exercise or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of us, our users or others.
We will attempt to notify you about these requests unless: (i) providing notice is prohibited by the legal process itself, by court order we receive, or by applicable law, or (ii) we believe that providing notice would be futile, ineffective, create a risk of injury or bodily harm to an individual or group, or create or increase a risk of fraud upon us, our users, our Website, or our Services. In instances where we comply with legal requests without notice for these reasons, we will attempt to notify that user about the request after the fact if we determine in good faith that we are no longer legally prohibited from doing so and that no risk scenarios described in this paragraph apply.
It is likely that the identity and categories of such third parties will change during the life of your account. We require that our third-party service providers only use your Personal Data as necessary to provide the requested services to us and each service provider is subject to a set of terms consistent with the applicable portions of this Privacy Policy.
Disclosure of De-Identified Personal Data. We may share De-Identified Personal Data with third parties for any purpose. De-Identified Personal Data or non-Personal Data may be aggregated for system administration and to monitor usage of the Website. It may be utilized to measure the number of visits to our Website, average time spent, number of pages viewed and to monitor various other Website statistics. This monitoring helps us evaluate how visitors use and navigate our Website so we can improve the content. We may share De-Identified Personal Data or anonymous information (including, but not limited to, anonymous usage data, referring/exit pages and URLs, IP address, platform types, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third parties in any way we choose and for any purpose. We may disclose, sell, rent, etc., your De-Identified Personal Data to third parties.
Your Consent to Disclosure/Transfer/Sale of Your Personal Data. You consent to our disclosure of your Personal Data, De-Identified Personal Data, and other information you provide to us (“Transferred Information”) to a potential or actual buyer or acquirer of our company or other successor for the purpose of considering or undergoing a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, change in control, or sale or transfer of some or all of our assets (each of the foregoing referred to as a “Transfer”), whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or other court proceeding, in which Personal Data held by us is among the assets transferred. You agree to and do hereby consent to (and shall not object to) our assignment, conveyance, transfer, and/or license (whether by contract, merger or operation of law) as part of a Transfer, of any or all of our rights, in whole or in part, in or to Transferred Information and your consents, with or without notice to you and without your further consent. We cannot make any representations regarding the use or transfer of Transferred Information that we may have in the event of our bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency, receivership, or an assignment for the benefit of creditors. By providing any Personal Data, you expressly agree and consent to the use and/or transfer of Transferred Information or other information in connection with a Transfer. Furthermore, except as required by law, we are not and will not be responsible for any breach of security by any third parties or for any actions of any third parties that receive any of the Transferred Information that is disclosed to us.
Security
We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Data from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure. Your Personal Data is contained behind secured networks and a firewall and is only accessible by our personnel and by a limited number of Service Providers who have special access rights to our systems, and who are required to keep the information confidential. Our Website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our Website safe.
Data Retention
The time period for which we retain your Personal Data depend on the purposes for which we use it. We will retain your Personal Data for as long as your account is active, or as long as you are a registered member or account holder or user of our Services or for as long as we have another business purpose to do so (such as, but not limited to, for business, tax, or legal purposes) and, thereafter, for no longer than is required or permitted by law, or our records retention policy, reasonably necessary for internal reporting and reconciliation purposes, or to provide you with feedback or information you might request. This period of retention is subject to our review and alteration.
Following termination or deactivation of your user account, we may retain your profile information and all information posted to public areas of the Website. Following termination or deactivation of your user account, we may retain your Personal Data and other data, but will maintain it as confidential according to the Terms, this Privacy Policy, and as required by applicable law. We have the right to delete all of your Personal Data and other data after termination of your user account without notice to you.
We may retain De-Identified Personal Data for as long as we deem appropriate.
Your Rights and Choices Regarding Your Information
Through your user account settings page, you may access and, in some cases, edit, or delete certain information you have provided to us, such as name and password, email address, address, user profile information, etc. The information that you can view, update, and delete may change as the products, Website, Services or our practices change. If you have any questions about viewing or updating information we have on file about you, please contact us.
Where we Process and Store Personal Data
We have our headquarters in the United States. The Personal Data we or our service providers collect may be stored and processed in servers within or outside of the United States and wherever we and our service providers have facilities around the globe, and certain information may be accessible by persons or companies outside of the United States who provide services for us. You consent to our and our service providers’ transmission and/or transfer of your Personal Data to, or access it in, jurisdictions that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that your Personal Data receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we process it.
If you are a resident or citizen of the UK, European Economic Area (“EEA”), or Switzerland, please see the section below on GDPR compliance.
If you are a citizen or resident of the UK, EEA, Switzerland, or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from the laws in the United States, please note that we may transfer your information to a country or jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction. We may do so to process your information by staff operating outside the these countries who work for us or for one of our service providers.
If you are a resident of a country other than the United States, you acknowledge and consent to our collecting, transmitting, processing, transferring, and storing your Personal Data out of the country in which you reside.
GDPR: The Follow Provisions Apply Only to Citizens and Residents of the United Kingdom, EEA, and Switzerland
The following provisions apply only if you are a citizen or resident of the UK, EEA, or Switzerland. For such citizens or residents, all processing of your Personal Data is performed in accordance with privacy rights and regulations, in particular, (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), and our processing will take place in accordance with the GDPR. For purposes of the GDPR, we will be the “data controller” of Personal Data (referred to and defined in the GDPR (available here) as “Personal Data”) we collect through the Website, unless we collect such information on behalf of a “data controller” in which case we will be a “data processor.” This Privacy Policy does not apply to websites, applications or services that do not display or link to this Privacy Policy or that display or link to a different privacy policy. For UK, EEA, and Switzerland residents and citizens only, to the extent any definition in this Privacy Policy conflicts with a definition under the GDPR, the GDPR definition shall control.
We provide adequate protection for the transfer of Personal Data to countries outside of the UK, EEA, or Switzerland through a series of intercompany agreements based on or incorporating the Standard Contractual Clauses, or we rely on the European Commission’s adequacy decisions about certain countries, as applicable, and/or obtain your consent for these data transfers from Europe to the United States to other countries. We may also need to transfer your information to other group companies or service providers in countries outside the EEA. This may happen if our servers or suppliers and service providers are based outside the UK, EEA, or Switzerland, or if you use our services and products while visiting countries outside this area.
Our Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data (UK, EEA, and Swiss Visitors Only)
If you are a visitor using our Website from the UK, EEA, or Switzerland, our legal basis for collecting and using the Personal Data described above will depend on the Personal Data concerned and the specific context in which we collect it. However, we will normally collect Personal Data from you only where we need the Personal Data to perform Services for you for which you have contracted with us, or where the processing is in our legitimate interests or rely upon your consent where we are legally required to do so and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect Personal Data from you or may otherwise need the Personal Data to protect your vital interests or those of another person.
The collection and processing of your Personal Data may be necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests. Such legitimate interest purposes may include:
- fraud prevention
- ensuring network and information security
- indicating possible criminal acts or threats to public security, including enhancing protection of our community against spam, harassment, intellectual property infringement, crime, and security risks of all kind, and enforcing legal claims, including investigation of potential violations of our Terms of Use
- when we are complying with legal obligations
- processing employee or visitor, member, attendee, or registrant data
- performing the function or service you requested of us
- providing our Services and their functionality to you where such processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by our service providers related to the Services
- direct marketing
- the relevant and appropriate relationship we have with you
- analytics, e.g., assess the number of visitors, page views, use of the Website, etc., in order to understand how our Website and Services are being used, to optimize the Website and/or future communications, and to develop new services and Website features
- updating your information and preferences
- offering and improving our Services
- enforcing legal claims, including investigation of potential violations of our Terms
Your Data Rights Under GDPR
- The right to access - Upon request, we will confirm any processing of your Personal Data and, and provide you with a copy of that Personal Data in an acceptable machine-readable format.
- The right to rectification - You have the right to have us correct any inaccurate Personal Data or to have us complete any incomplete Personal Data.
- The right to erasure - You may ask us to delete or remove your Personal Data and we will do so in some circumstances, such as where we no longer need it (we may not delete your data when other interests outweigh your right to deletion).
- The right to restrict processing - You have the right to ask us to suppress the processing of your Personal Data but we may still store your Personal Data. See below for more information.
- The right to object to processing - You have the right to object to your Personal Data used in the following manners: (a) processing based on legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling); (b) direct marketing (including profiling); and, (c) processing for purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics. See below for more information.
- The right to data portability - You have the right to obtain your Personal Data from us that you consented to give us or that is necessary to perform fulfillment of member benefits with you. We will give you your Personal Data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
- The right to complain to a supervisory authority - You have the right to file a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European member state of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if you consider that the processing of Personal Data relating to you infringes upon your rights.
- The right to withdraw consent - If we are processing your Personal Data based on your consent to do so, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
Access To The Information AOSSM Has Collected About You
AOSSM provides certain tools and settings within the Services to help you access, correct, delete, or modify your Personal Data associated with the Services. AOSSM welcomes you to contact us regarding the information we have collected about you, including regarding the nature and accuracy of the data that has been collected about you, to request an update, modification, or deletion of your information, to opt-out of certain Services uses of your information, or to withdraw any consent you may have granted to AOSSM.
Please note requests to delete or remove your information do not necessarily ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information posted, and removed information may persist in backup copies indefinitely. Please note that if you choose to delete your information or opt-out of the collection and use of your information, you understand that certain features, including but not limited to access to the Services, may no longer be available to you.
Opting-Out Of Communications From AOSSM
Users may opt-out of receiving certain communications from AOSSM by following the unsubscribe process described in an email communication, or by contacting us using the contact information provided below. However, please note you may not opt-out of Services-related communications, such as account verification, changes or updates to features of the Services, or technical and security notices.
Do Not Track
AOSSM does not currently employ a process for automatically responding to “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals sent by web browsers, mobile devices, or other mechanisms. Per industry standards, third parties may be able to collect information, including Personal Data, about your online activities over time and across different websites or online services when you use Services. You may opt out of online behavioral ads at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/. You also may limit certain tracking by disabling cookies in your web browser.
Security Of Your Information
AOSSM takes reasonable efforts to secure and protect the privacy, accuracy, and reliability of your information and to protect it from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. AOSSM implements security measures as we deem appropriate and consistent with industry standards. As no data security protocol is impenetrable, AOSSM cannot guarantee the security of our systems or databases, nor can we guarantee that Personal Data we collect about you will not be breached, intercepted, destroyed, accessed, or otherwise disclosed without authorization. Accordingly, any information you transfer to or from Services is provided at your own risk.
Please do your part to help us keep your information secure. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and AOSSM Account, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or AOSSM Account. AOSSM specifically reserves the right to terminate your access to the Services and any contract you have with AOSSM related to the Services in the event it learns or suspects you have disclosed your AOSSM Account or password information to an unauthorized third party.
Additional Provisions Regarding the Services and Your Information
Transfer and Storage of Your Information
Please note information AOSSM collects about you may be transferred, processed and/or accessed by us in the United States, or another country where we, or our Service Providers operate. Please be aware Personal Data may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside of your state or country where privacy laws may differ from and may not be as protective as those where you live. If you are located outside the United States and choose to allow us to collect information about you, please be aware that AOSSM may transfer your Personal Data to the United States and process and store it there.
If you are located in the European Economic Area ("EEA") or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, please note that we may transfer information to a country or jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction, as disclosed in this Privacy Policy. It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of Service Providers, also as disclosed.
Website/Digital Services/Data Hosting: AOSSM works with the following entities as its data hosting services providers: Community Brands, St. Petersburg, FL, Salesforce, San Francisco, CA, MightyCitizen, Austin, TX, Coveo Solutions Inc., Quebec, Quebec, CA, 360Factor, Chicago, IL USA, CTI Meeting Technology, Chicago, IL, USA, Informz Inc., Saratoga Springs, NY, USA, SAGE Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, USA and Corcoran Expositions, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA. AOSSM’s data are stored by each of these entities listed. AOSSM shares your data, including Personal Data, with our Website hosting Service Providers for the purposes of processing your data pursuant to your use of the Services.
Safely Using AOSSM’s Services
Despite AOSSM’s safety and privacy controls, we cannot guarantee the Services are entirely free of illegal, offensive, pornographic, or otherwise inappropriate material, or that you will not encounter inappropriate or illegal conduct from other Users when using the Services. You can help AOSSM by notifying us of any unwelcome contact by contacting us using the information below.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
AOSSM may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of this Privacy Policy will be posted on our Website and will be effective when posted.
Contact AOSSM’s Data Protection Officer:
James Jankovec
Director of Information Technology
American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine
9400 W. Higgins Road, Suite 300
Rosemont, IL 60018