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Arkansas Oklahoma Astronomical Society

Privacy Policy

The Arkansas Oklahoma Astronomical Society ( aoas.org ) is committed to providing service that exceeds the expectations of site visitors and those who register for our services. This commitment extends to the expectations you may have about maintaining your privacy and that of the members of your family, when it comes to the use of any personally identifiable information you may provide.

We believe it is important to explain our information gathering practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. Our policy naturally does not apply to the practices of web sites that we do not own or control or to any persons which are not affiliated with our organization.

To make this notice easy to find, it is prominently displayed on our home page. This explanation of our privacy policy answers the following questions:

  • How and what kinds of information does aoas.org collect?
  • How is this information used?
  • What can site visitors and those who register for our services do to retain their privacy?

Gathering Information

Personally identifiable information is collected by us when you register for our services, participate in a survey, or make a general inquiry. The information requested when you register with us may include the following: name, user-id, password, your Homepage URL, biographical information, your photo, and e-mail address. Of these, only your name, user-id, password, and e-mail address are required to register. With regard to surveys in which you elect to participate, we may request additional demographic information along with basic information regarding your personal interests and how aoas.org may better serve those needs. Name, e-mail address and other contact information may be collected so that we can respond to any member service issue, request for information or other general inquiry, along with (of course) information about the nature of your inquiry.

It is important for you to understand that no personally identifiable information is captured or retained unless you directly volunteer it. Once volunteered, you are not anonymous to us. When you access our web site, our server passively and automatically logs your IP address, aoas.org cookie information, and the page you requested. Cookies (or magic cookies) are used to promote ease of access and communication among web addresses. We may set and access cookies on your computer.

This site uses a visitor statistics package that logs the following information on each page access: userid, user_agent, IP, host, browser type, computing platform, date and time, page viewed, referrer, request type, and query_string. We use this information to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our web site, and to help identify you. This information is also gathered because we like to see who is visiting. This information is not and will never be divulged to a third party.

Uses of Information

Your privacy is important to us! The fundamental (and essential) use of the information we collect is to respond and fulfill your needs as a web site visitor, registrant or member. In other words, the information is necessary and is used to transact the AOAS business you wish to conduct via our site, to fulfill your desire to enter a contest, to acknowledge your interest in participating in a survey, or to resolve the member service matter or other inquiry you have brought to our attention. We also use the information to contact you to tailor the content you see on our pages according to your interests. Under no circumstances will your personally identifiable information be made available to other organizations or companies for any reason.

Demographic and other information volunteered in connection with surveys are used only for internal purposes to improve our responsiveness to your wants, needs, interests, opinions and suggestions. On occasion, the aggregate findings and results of such surveys may be published as a matter of general interest to the AOAS Membership or the identifiable group who provided the information. In all such cases, the aggregate findings and results are reported "blind" without identifying any individuals from whom the data was collected.

Maintaining Your Personal Privacy and Security

All personally identifiable information, which you provide, is password-protected for your privacy and security. If for any reason, you believe your personally identifiable information has been used by someone not associated with the aoas.org, or by an AOAS member for purposes other than normal club business, please contact our webmaster immediately at webmaster@aoas.org.

This site as such, is a public forum, made available to its users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. While we do our best to ensure only appropriate information is posted, we cannot and do not assume responsibility for our user's postings. All postings are property of their respective authors. Improper language is automatically censored by the system. All submissions are subject to our editorial control -- editorial changes may or may not be indicated.

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the personally identifiable information under our control. However, this site gives users control over their user experience and the content that they may have provided. Users can freely modify or delete any content they post. Users have the ability to customize various aspects of the look and feel of the site.

In addition, there are also national clearinghouse organizations where you can register to suppress unwanted postal, electronic mail and telephone solicitations by third parties that have obtained your personally identifiable information. The most prominent of these is the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The DMA provides mail, e-mail and telephone database "preference services" free of charge to consumers who wish to block unsolicited direct mail, e-mail and telemarketing contacts, respectively. For more information, visit DMA's web site, or contact them at (202) 955-5030.

Special Privacy Protections and Safeguards for Children

The aoas.org encourages parents and guardians to spend time online with their children and to participate in the activities offered on our sites. Although we also encourage and specifically direct all children to please ask your parents for permission before sending any information about yourself over the Internet, it is not possible-within the capability of current technology-for anyone to know for certain who is transacting business with them online. We cannot and do not ask minors to provide or disclose more information than is necessary from any other visitor or member in their dealings with us.

Unless otherwise disclosed during collection, aoas.org does not use or provide any personally identifiable information from registrants under the age of 13 to any interested third party.

Limitation of Liability

aoas.org is not liable for any damages caused by any of the content on our web site, whether it is directly provided by aoas.org or not.


Last Updated Friday, January 18 2008 @ 10:49 pm EST; 20,614 Hits View Printable Version

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