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AOAC INTERNATIONAL ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY

OVERVIEW

Welcome to AOAC Online, owned and produced by AOAC. Our website is available to all visitors, although some content and features are restricted to AOAC members.

Throughout AOAC Online, there are forms for visitors to request information, products and services. These forms may ask for contact information (such as your email address, fax number, physical address, etc.), unique identifiers (usually your AOAC INTERNATIONAL member number/ID), financial information (such as your credit card number), or demographic information (such as your academic background or areas of interest). Contact information from these forms is used to provide the products, services or memberships that you request. Forms on our site that request financial information do so in order to complete the transaction of providing the products and services that you request. Unique identifiers (specifically, your AOAC INTERNATIONAL member number/ID) are collected to verify the user’s identity for access to restricted content or features on the site.

This Online Privacy Policy discloses AOAC’s privacy practices and contains detailed information about the following:

1. What information of yours does AOAC Online collect?
2. How does AOAC use “cookies?”
3. What organization collects the information and who has access to it?
4. How does AOAC use the information it collects?
5. How can AOAC members modify their personal information?
6. What is the opt-out policy for AOAC Online?
7. What types of security procedures are in place to protect against loss, misuse or alteration of your information?
8. How does AOAC Online use discussion forums?

All products and services on AOAC Online are made available subject to this Privacy Policy. By using the products and services, you agree, without limitation or qualification, to be bound by this Privacy Policy.

Questions regarding this statement should be directed to:

AOAC INTERNATIONAL
481 N. Frederick Ave., STE 500
Gaithersburg, MD 20877

301-924-7077 or 800-379-2622
aoac@aoac.org

AOAC Online will update this policy from time to time, so please check back periodically. When such changes occur, you will see the word “updated” next to the Privacy Policy link on the home page. If at any point we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we would prominently post such changes before we implement them.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What information of yours does AOAC Online collect?
   
Our goal is to become your destination for “confidence in analytical results” by providing information, services and product offerings that are most relevant to you in the most convenient way. To achieve this goal, AOAC Online collects information about site visitors.

Information collected online is usually defined as either anonymous or personally identifiable. Anonymous information refers to data that cannot be tied back to a specific individual. AOAC collects some information each time a visitor comes to the AOAC website, so we can improve the overall quality of the visitor’s experience. For example, AOAC collects the visitor’s browser and platform type (e.g., a Netscape browser on a Windows platform). Gathering this data helps us to learn what browsers we need to support. Other anonymous information helps us determine what sections of AOAC Online are most popular and how many visitors come to our site. You do not have to register with AOAC Online before we can collect this anonymous information.

Personally identifiable information refers to data that tells us specifically who you are (e.g., your name and postal address). You are only required to provide such information if you want to take advantage of optional products and services provided through our website.

AOAC Online collects personal information in the following ways from different parts of its website:

1. AOAC MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS: You are sharing personally identifiable information, including your name and mailing address, with us when you join AOAC or renew you AOAC membership through our website. AOAC members are given a membership number, and this member ID and password enables members to take advantage of restricted content and features on AOAC Online.
2. OTHER REGISTRATION: You will be asked for personal information when registering for specific services such as our Annual Meeting or our educational offerings, for example.
3. ONLINE PURCHASES: We also ask for personal information when you are making a purchase from our product and services offerings. The number and variety of useful services on AOAC Online that will require collection of personally identifiable information will continue to grow in the future.
2. How does AOAC use “cookies?”
   

First of all, AOAC Online does not collect any financial or otherwise sensitive data in cookies. All sensitive financial and other data are kept in our SQL server database as encrypted data that is further secured by 128-bit encryption. This is considered the industry standard for secure communications.

3. What organization collects the information and who has access to it?
   
   
   1. Personally identifiable information. When you provide personally identifiable information on AOAC Online to register for a meeting or purchase one of our products or services, that information is collected and maintained solely by AOAC, unless specifically stated otherwise at the point of collection. AOAC will inform you at the point of collection if your personal data is being shared with another organization. If you do not want that information shared, please see point 6 for the AOAC Opt-Out Policy.
   2. Anonymous information. AOAC does not disclose statistical information gained from analysis of activity on different portions of our website with anyone outside of the organization.

   Be aware that AOAC’s sponsors, advertisers and third party content providers have links on our website that take you to other websites. Please note that links to other websites are provided throughout AOAC Online for user’s information and convenience. AOAC hopes that all third parties adhere to our policies regarding the privacy of our users. However, AOAC Online Privacy Policy does not cover third-party data collection practices and AOAC Online does not assume any responsibility for any actions of third parties.

4. How does AOAC use the information it collects?
   
   

   AOAC collects information to provide you with services you request and to improve our website.

   If you join AOAC or renew your membership through our website, we use the personally identifiable information you provide in the membership application to send you AOAC publications, information about member benefits and special offers, and other information that AOAC believes is relevant and useful to its members. AOAC does not share a list of its members, specifically because they are members, with anyone outside the organization. However, there are times when we share with our “partner” organizations (similar interests, similar mission, similar back rounds of their membership) a list of people that had something in common. An example of this would be people that attended a meeting or bought a specific product, whether they were a member or not. What was in common was what they did, not that they were a member.

   For instance, we share a list of our Annual Meeting attendees with those who purchase booth space and exhibit at that Annual Meeting.

   As mentioned previously, our anonymous data that is collected is used exclusively by AOAC to measure user interests in various parts of our website. Without this data we would not be able to change and update the content and services appropriate.

   AOAC may be required by law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide information on individual users to the appropriate governmental authorities. In matters involving a danger to personal or public safety, AOAC may voluntarily provide information to appropriate governmental authorities.
5. How can AOAC members modify their personal information?



AOAC members have the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided.

E-mail: aoac@aoac.org

Visit: www.aoac.org and click on the ONLINE MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY or go to http://my.aoac.org

Postal mail: AOAC, 481 N. Frederick Ave., Ste 500, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, ATTN: Customer Service

Call: 301-924-7077 or 800-379-2622

6. What is the opt-out policy for AOAC Online?
   

   AOAC provides its members and customers the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from our partners and us. If you no longer wish to receive specific communications or services, you have the following options:

   E-mail: aoac@aoac.org

   Visit: www.aoac.org and click on the ONLINE MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY or go to http://my.aoac.org

   Postal mail: AOAC, 481 N. Frederick Ave., Ste 500, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, ATTN: Customer Service

   Call: 301-924-7077 or 800-379-2622

7. What types of security procedures are in place to protect against loss, misuse or alteration of your information?

   AOAC Online has security measures, such as firewalls, in place to protect against loss, misuse or alteration of your user data under our control. While we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration to data will not occur, we take reasonable precautions to prevent such unfortunate occurrences.

   Additionally, all sensitive financial and other data are kept in our SQL server database as encrypted data that is further secured by 128-bit encryption. This is considered the industry standard for secure communications. Our my.aoac.org site is also protected by 128-bit encryption making it nearly impossible for an outside source to access any information passed to our database server. All credit cards maintained in our system are encrypted. All used passwords are hashed and cannot be viewed by any AOAC staff person.

   You are ultimately responsible for the security of your AOAC member ID and password. You may not share your AOAC member ID and password with colleagues or friends so they can access content or features on AOAC Online that are restricted to AOAC members only. You should log out of your browser at the end of each computer session to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence, especially if you share a computer or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet café.

8. How does AOAC Online use discussion forums?

   This site makes discussion forums available to its members. Any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information, and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. Although users may post messages that will appear on the forums anonymously, AOAC does retain a record of who posts all notes.

Privacy policy effective August 2005.