1. General Policy

It is the policy of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) to respect and protect the privacy of our users. To fulfill this policy, IGCS agrees to exercise reasonable precautions to maintain the confidentiality of information provided by you in connection with accessing and using its websites, including https://igcs.org, https://igcs2018.com, https://igcs2019.com, and future meeting websites (collectively, the “Sites”). IGCS also agrees to post prominently and in plain language its specific privacy policies. IGCS does not collect personal information about individuals except when specifically, and knowingly provided by such individuals and does not sell or otherwise share personal information to any third parties for marketing purposes

2. Collection and Use of Personal Information

IGCS uses the Sites to allow interested persons to apply for membership, submit abstracts, register for events, and access clinical resources; to provide information about training and mentorship opportunities and upcoming events; to allow existing members to access the member directory, request a Member Spotlight, communicate with other members in a social network (GO Global), vote in society elections, and access members-only content available through the Member Portal; and to make our products and services available to the public.

When individuals apply for membership, it is the policy of IGCS to ask those applicants to provide certain personal information, including name, date of birth, information regarding workplace, and email address. Individuals may also choose to provide additional information, including profession, gender, street address, telephone number, and any other biographical information as part of our membership application.  In the event that individuals are accepted as a member, this information will be shared in the member directory, available to other members.

IGCS will use members’ personal information to facilitate member access to our services and product offerings and online forums, to communicate with our members, and to analyze member data in order to improve the member experience.

IGCS will import email address to Constant Contact, a third-party vendor we use to send email communications. In addition, if someone chooses to purchase a product or service, we and/or our third-party payment processors will collect payment information, including, but not limited to, credit or debit card number, card verification value (CVV) number, and expiration date.  We will need to  share personal information such as name and email address with BMJ, the publisher of the Society’s professional journal, the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer so that members may have access to the journal and receive the table of contents and other updates via email.

We also use Survey Monkey to send voluntary surveys and questionnaires to our members.  Data from surveys and questionnaires are stored on a secure survey tool server, accessible through a dedicated IGCS account.  In some cases, these data may be exported to IGCS’s internal server and stored there. To ensure the complete anonymity of all respondents, all data collected are kept confidential and no individual respondent’s answers will be disclosed at any time by IGCS.

By using and submitting information through the Sites, individuals consent to IGCS’s processing of personal data in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy, as well as processing by third-party vendors that IGCS may engage for the purposes of transmitting or storing your personal information on IGCS’s behalf.  Withdrawal of consent at any time and can request corrections to or removal of personal information as detailed below.

3. Additional Disclosure to Protect People or Property or As Required by Law.

In addition to the disclosures otherwise permitted by this privacy policy, IGCS may disclose personal information if we have a good-faith belief that doing so is required by a subpoena or other judicial or administrative order or otherwise required by law. Additionally, IGCS may disclose personal information where we, in good faith, deem it appropriate or necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) the rights or property of IGCS, any individual, or the general public; maintain and protect the security and integrity of our services or infrastructure; protect ourselves and our services from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses; investigate and defend ourselves against third-party claims or allegations; or assist government enforcement agencies.

4. Automated Data Collection & Cookies

In addition to personal information, IGCS may also collect standard web server traffic pattern information generated by the use of the Sites. Web browser or mobile device automatically provides information when individuals visit the Sites, including, but not limited to, Internet Protocol (IP) address or unique device identifier. In addition, general traffic, site usage, and length of stay information may be collected and stored in log files. Like most websites, the Sites use log files to analyze trends, administer the Sites, and track users’ movement on the Sites.

Visitors should be aware that non-personal information and data may be automatically collected on the Sites through the use of “cookies.” Cookies are small text files stored as text on a computer hard drive. Websites can use cookies to recognize repeat visitors, facilitate the visitor's ongoing access to and use of the site, and allow a site to track usage behavior and compile aggregate data that will allow content improvements. IGCS uses cookie technology only to obtain non-personal information from its online visitors in order to improve visitors’ online experience and facilitate their visit within our Sites.

If a visitor does not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows the visitor to deny or accept the cookie feature. You can choose to prevent IGCS from establishing a unique user-ID. IGCS recommends that you visit any of the commonly available Cookie FAQs on the Internet to learn more about this.

We use a tool called “Google Analytics” to collect information about use of the Sites. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit the Sites, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to the Sites. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve the Sites. Google Analytics collects only the IP address of the visitor, rather than the visitors’ name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personal information. Although Google Analytics plants a permanent cookie on an individual’s web browser to identify a unique user the next time that the user visits the Sites, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about an individual’s visits to the Sites is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. An individual can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing them on return visits to our Sites by disabling cookies on their browser.

5. Links

This Sites contain links to websites and resources maintained by other individuals and organizations. IGCS is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content on any of these other websites. Note also that the linked websites may collect personal information from visitors when they click links to enter their sites and that this collecting of information is not subject to the control of IGCS. To ensure protection of privacy, IGCS strongly recommends a thorough review the privacy policies of the sites visited by linking from our Sites.

6. Our Commitment to Children's Privacy

Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. We never collect or maintain information at the Sites from persons we know to be under age 16, and no part of our Sites is designed to attract anyone under age 16. Please do not communicate with or contact us if you are under age 16.

Any person who provides Personal Information through this Sites represents to us that he or she is 16 years of age or older. If IGCS learns that personal information has been collected from a user under 16 years of age on or through this Sites, then IGCS will take the appropriate steps to cause this information to be deleted.

7. Storage and Retention of Personal Information

Information collected through the Sites is stored and processed on servers in the United States. Users in the European Union should be aware that their data will be transferred to the United States and that the European Commission has not found United States law to adequately protect the rights of data subjects. IGCS takes reasonable precautions to ensure that all processing activities conducted on our behalf are compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under that regulation, EU users who believe their data has been misused have the right to lodge a complaint with their Member State’s supervisory authority.

We retain the personal data collected from subscribers unless and until an individual asks us to remove their information.

8. Accessing and Correcting Your Information

Individuals can contact IGCS by email at igcs@igcs.org to inquire if we are keeping personal information about them. If we do have personal information, IGCS will provide a readable copy of such personal information at no charge. Factual errors in personal information, including out-of-date information, can be corrected by sending an email to igcs@igcs.org with a request for such a change that credibly shows our error.

Individuals may always opt out of receiving some or all communications from IGCS by clicking unsubscribe on the email message or emailing igcs@igcs.org. To remove any personal information from our database, send an e-mail to igcs@igcs.org with the word “remove” in the subject line.

9. Security Statement

IGCS takes all reasonable precautions to protect the information provided through the Sites or otherwise in its possession.  Nevertheless, despite best efforts, no transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be totally secure.

10. Effect of Future Changes to this Privacy Policy

IGCS reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time.  However, we will not apply any new policies to any personal data collected under an old policy without contacting individuals at the email addresses provided and giving those individuals the opportunity to opt out of any use of data under the changed policy.

Leave a Reply