Sigma Xi Privacy Policy
General
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, is the sole owner of the information collected on sigmaxi.org, community.sigmaxi.org, ecommerce.sigmaxi.org, and americanscientist.org (Sigma Xi sites). We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement.
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society has updated this Privacy Policy to clarify our data collection, usage and sharing practices. The objective of this policy is to inform you in a fair and transparent manner about how we gather, use and handle data.
Definition
Reference in this policy to “we”, “us”, or “our” means Sigma Xi. Where we refer to “you” or “your” in this policy, we mean the individual user that browses, accesses, and uses our Sites.
Information Types
1. Personal Information:
Personal information is any information that identifies you personally, such as your name, email address, mailing address , or other data that can be reasonably linked to this information, such as the information you provide when you apply for Sigma Xi membership, purchase a subscription to American Scientist magazine, or register for an account on americanscientist.org.
2. Non-Personal Information:
Non-Personal information is information recorded about a user so that it no longer references an individual user.
Who is served under this Privacy Policy?
Anyone who accesses our websites (Sites)
Information Collection
Sigma Xi collects information from our visitors at several different points on the Sigma Xi sites. We do not share personally identifiable information collected on the Sigma Xi sites with third parties without the visitor’s prior consent, and, except for routine Sigma Xi member or American Scientist subscriber communications, we do not distribute unsolicited newsletters or promotions to visitors who have shared their email addresses with us.
Purchases
We request information from the visitor on order forms for products and services. A visitor must provide contact information (such as name, e-mail, and shipping address) and financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date, and billing address). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill a customer’s orders. If we have trouble processing an order, the information may be used to contact the visitor.
Information Use
The information collected is used to fulfill a visitor’s request for customer service, support, products, programs, and other services, to respond to inquiries about our offerings, and to offer other products, programs or services that we believe may be of interest to the visitor.
In addition, Sigma Xi uses the information a member provides to keep our database current with contact information, transactions, preferences in communication, meeting attendance, participation in work groups such as committees, expressed interest in focus groups via electronic communication, and optional demographic information.
Cookie Policy
We may place a cookie containing information pertaining to the browsing session on the devices of visitors to our sites. Personal information in the form of the user's email address will only be stored in a cookie if the visitor logs in to one of our sites using their email address and password. The visitor's email address is the only piece of personal information that may appear in the cookie, and will only appear in the cookie if the visitor logs in.
Newsletter
If a visitor wishes to subscribe to a newsletter, we ask for contact information such as their name and email address. This information is not shared with business partners or advertisers.
Sharing Information with Business Service Providers
Sigma Xi partners with third parties to provide specific services. This includes website hosting, email newsletter distribution, credit card authorization and ad serving. As mentioned above, our policy is to share only aggregated data with our business partners and advertisers. However, where such information is required to deliver the service, and where the visitor has agreed to this use of personalized information, we may give business partners or service providers such access to or use of personalized information as is necessary for the third party to provide these services. We do not allow these parties to use personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services.
Legal Disclaimer
Though we attempt to preserve visitor privacy whenever possible, we may be required to disclose personal information when required by law or when we in good faith believe that such action is necessary to comply with judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on Sigma Xi sites, or to protect ourselves, our sites, or our visitors. Sigma Xi shall not be liable for any damages, compensatory or otherwise, based on any cause of action that arises from such personal information being disclosed, provided we acted in good faith and have not willfully disclosed such information with an intent to injure. The claimant shall have the full burden of proof that Sigma Xi willfully disclosed information with an intent to cause injury.
Third-Party Advertisers
Sigma Xi may allow third-party advertisers to display advertisements on the Sigma Xi sites. To deliver the ad we may use cookies to identify you based on demographic or other profile data you have provided. This information will only be used by Sigma Xi. We may serve ads from companies that use their own ad server or that of their advertising agency. Whenever such third-party ad serving is performed the advertiser will only receive aggregated raw data. If you click on these ads and visit the advertiser’s website, you may have a cookie placed on your computer by the advertiser. Sigma Xi does not have access to or control of the cookies that may be placed by third parties whose sites you visit. Please read the advertiser’s privacy policy for information about how it uses cookies.
Choice/Opt-out
Visitors who no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional materials may opt out of receiving these communications by following instructions in the email or by sending a message to webadmin@sigmaxi.org. Or, they may contact us by telephone or postal mail using the information listed below.
Links
Sigma Xi sites contain links to other sites. Please be aware that Sigma Xi is not responsible for the privacy practices of other such sites. We encourage our visitors to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.
Surveys
From time to time our sites request information from visitors via surveys. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and the visitor has a choice whether or not to provide any requested information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address) and demographic information (such as income level or age group). Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use of and satisfaction with these sites.
List Rentals
We do make Sigma Xi member names and mailing addresses available to other organizations on request, usually for a fee. We do not provide the names and addresses of subscribers to American Scientist magazine. Email addresses and phone numbers are never sold to third parties. If you do not wish your name to be shared with any third parties, please send an email message to memberinfo@sigmaxi.org and it will be removed immediately. Please be aware that it can take 6-8 weeks for lists currently in circulation to expire.
Security
Sigma Xi takes substantial precautions on its sites to protect our visitors’ information. Sigma Xi maintains practices and procedures designed to ensure the security, integrity and confidentiality of member and subscriber information. We restrict and limit access to our database information only to those who need it to carry out their business functions. On all of our sites, we employ the industry standard security and encryption protocols. We will monitor and adopt, as appropriate, new technological improvements that are designed to aid in ensuring the accuracy and security of our database information. However, no transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Although we make reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information as it is being transmitted using our secure server and once we receive it, we cannot warrant the security of information you transmit to us. The servers where we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment in a locked facility.
If you have any questions about the security of the Sigma Xi sites, you can send e-mail to webadmin@sigmaxi.org.
Correction/Updating Personal Information
If a visitor’s personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code, phone, email or postal address), or if a visitor no longer desires our service, we provide a way to correct, update or deactivate visitors’ personally identifiable information. Members can do this online at https://www.sigmaxi.org/my-sigma-xi and American Scientist subscribers at https://www.americanscientist.org/user or by sending an email to memberinfo@sigmaxi.org. Or, contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed at the bottom of this page.
Notification of Changes
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement on the Sigma Xi site at https://www.sigmaxi.org and on the American Scientist site at https://www.americanscientist.org and other places we deem appropriate so our visitors are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If, however, we would like to use visitors’ personal information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify visitors via email. Visitors will have a choice as to whether or not we use their information in this different manner. However, if visitors have opted out of all communication with the site, or deactivated their account, then they will not be contacted, nor will their personal information be used in this new manner. In addition, if we make any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect visitor information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our web site notifying visitors of the change. In some cases where we post a notice we will also email visitors who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.
EU Data Rights
On May 25, 2018, the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) went into effect. In accordance with the GDPR, identifiable natural persons (“data subjects”) located within the EU must be provided with the following information:
Contact Details of Controller:
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society
Attn: Web Administration
P.O. Box 13975
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
919-549-4691 or 800-243-6534
Fax: 919-549-0090
Email: webadmin@sigmaxi.org
Purposes of Processing:
Personal data is processed for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy. The legal basis for the processing activities detailed in this document is by consent and contract as detailed in this Privacy Policy.
Recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data:
Personal data is received by our payment card service provider for the sole purposes of processing payment transactions on our Sites. Personal data is also received by our trusted third party business partners, who provide us with data and platform hosting services, by contract.
Personal Data Storage Criteria:
Personal data is stored by us until such time as you contact us in writing to request that your personal data be deleted.
Data Rights:
EU data subjects have the following data rights:
- Right to access the personal data we have for such data subject;
- Right to rectification of incorrect personal data;
- Right to erasure of the personal data we have for such data subject;
- Right to restriction of processing concerning such data subject;
- Right to object to our processing of such personal data;
- Right to data portability, that is, a copy of the data we have on such data subject;
- Right to withdraw consent at any time to our processing of such data subject’s personal data; and
- Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
You may exercise your data rights by contacting us, in writing, at the address indicated above.
Personal Data Requirement:
Providing us with personal data is a contractual requirement for Sigma Xi membership or an American Scientist magazine subscription to the extent outlined in this Privacy Policy. Providing us with non-personal information as defined in this Privacy Policy is also required as a condition of the use of our Sites. If you choose not to provide us with personal or non-personal information, where required and mandatory, you will not be able to utilize certain services and functions of our Sites. Nor will you be able to apply for membership in Sigma Xi, subscribe to American Scientist magazine, or register to attend Sigma Xi events.
Contact Information
If visitors have any questions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at:
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society
Attn: Web Administration
P.O. Box 13975
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
919-549-4691 or 800-243-6534
Fax: 919-549-0090
E-mail: webadmin@sigmaxi.org