Privacy Policy

THE MIND SCIENCE FOUNDATION PRIVACY POLICY
Last updated January 29, 2019 (effective date)

Scroll down for full Policy. Immediately below is a Table of Contents of the information we collect and ways in which we use and/or disclose it. PLEASE READ THE FULL POLICY.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. What is “personal information?”
2. What personal information do we collect?
3. Who can see my personal information?
4. Does the Site use cookies?
5. How does the Site use Analytics and Advertising?
6. How does MSF use the information it collects?
7. How does MSF handle information received from outside the United States?
8. How does MSF treat “Do Not Track” requests from a user’s browser?
9. Does MSF use personal information for advertising purposes?
10. Under what circumstances does MSF disclose or transfer personal information to others?
11. How do you keep my personal information secure?
12. Does the Site link to third party sites?
13. Do California Residents have specific privacy rights?
14. How long do you keep my information?
15. How can I access and make changes to my personal information?
16. How will I be notified of changes/updates to the Privacy Policy?
17. Who do I contact about my rights under the Privacy Policy?

FULL PRIVACY POLICY

Thank you for choosing to be part of our community at Mind Science Foundation (“MSF,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). This Privacy Policy describes our policy for treatment of personal information (as defined below) located at www.mindsciencefdn.wpengine.com and the MSF mobile application (individually and collectively, the “Site”). This Privacy Policy applies only to the Site, and it applies to the Site regardless of the platform on which it is used. For clarity, the Site includes all sites that are located on sub-domains or subdivisions of www.mindsciencefdn.wpengine.com and the Privacy Policy currently applies to all such sub-domains or subdivisions.

“You” in this Privacy Policy means you personally. We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about our policy, or our practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at mgood@mindscience.org. When you visit our website www.mindsciencefdn.wpengine.com, and use our services, you trust us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. We hope you take some time to read through it carefully, as it is important. If there are any terms in this privacy policy that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Sites and our services.

Please note that if you visit other sites operated by MSF and/or other sites linked to the Site in any way, the Privacy Policy for the Site will not control the practices for collecting and/or using personal information on those other operated or linked sites. Additionally, the Privacy Policy does not apply to MSF’s practices for collecting and/or using personal information offline or from sites, software, or applications other than the Site (even if that information is identical to the information gathered on the Site). Please read this Privacy Policy carefully as it will help you make informed decisions about sharing your personal information with us.

Children: For the avoidance of doubt, the Site is not directed to children younger than thirteen (13) years of age. It is directed to persons over the age of eighteen (18) and capable of entering into binding contracts. MSF does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of thirteen (13).

IMPORTANT NOTE: This Privacy Policy applies to information collected from residents of the United States. Personal information you provide in connection with your use of the Site may be processed and/or stored by the Company or third-party service providers in the United States. By providing personal information to us through the Site, you expressly consent to the transfer of your personal information. Any such processing and/or storage will take place in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.

1. What is “personal information?”

“Personal Information,” as used in this Privacy Policy, means information that is reasonably identifiable to you or to a particular device that you are using to visit MSF.

2. What personal information do we collect?

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and services, when participating in activities on the Sites or otherwise contacting us. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Sites, the choices you make and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect can include the following:

Personal Information We May Collect. Personal information that we collect includes information that you provide voluntarily to MSF. Personal information requested might include, for example, your first and last name, postal address, email address, phone number, and other similar contact data. MSF offers you the opportunity to join its research efforts through the Site and you pay for these items with certain credit cards. Please note, we outsource processing of credit card transactions to vendors we understand to be compliant with appropriate Payment Card Industry standards for security. Our payment process is, as of the effective date, SafeSave; however we may elect to replace SafeSave with another payment processor in our discretion. When you pay for a service on the Site by credit card, you will be providing your credit card number to SafeSave. MSF does not collect sensitive credit card information on the Site. In this regard, all payment data is stored by our payment processor and you should review its privacy policies and contact the payment processor directly to respond to your questions.
Navigational Information We May Collect. When you visit the Site, we may capture certain information automatically (even if you do not voluntarily provide us with personal information, or in addition to personal information that you do provide). This information may include your Internet protocol (“IP”) address, location-based information, browser type, time and date of access and pages accessed, linking information, click stream, page visits, page views, and website log files. However, no navigational information is retained by MSF to correlate given click-trails to a specific user of the Site. Navigational information is also captured through third party analytics and ad services.
3. Who can see my personal information?
Personal information you provide to us in connection with your account on the Site may be visible to others within your same organization, designated as “super users,” who are given permission to see it. MSF verifies the identity of each such individual and confirms that he or she is authorized by the organization to be a super user before granting him or her permission to see the information of others within his or her organization. Your information will not be visible to third-party individuals or the public.
4. Does the Site use cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that a website causes to be placed on your computer that allows the website’s server to keep track of and facilitate certain activities on the site. Cookies help provide information to websites about how users are using the website. MSF does not currently create cookies on the Site, except we do use cookies through third-party web analytics tools and partners as discussed below; and, we may use cookies in the future, other than through such tools and partners, to enhance user experience or to make the experience more efficient. However, we collect analytics information using Google Analytics, which may involve the use of cookies and similar technologies, such as web beacons.
5. How does the Site use Analytics and Advertising?
Please note that we may collect navigational information using a third-party web analytics tool such as Google Analytics. Google Analytics collects information such as the IP address assigned to a visitor on the day the visitor visits the Site, how often the visitors visit the Site, the pages visited, and other sites visited prior to coming to the Site. To the extent that use of these tools involves use of cookies, and to the extent that any information collected by us using those tools, or collected by third parties using such tools and transferred to us by them, is or becomes personal information held by us, we use it in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. A little more information about Google Analytics is provided below.
Google Analytics. MSF uses Google Analytics principally to understand how the Site is used and to improve it. Google, through Google Analytics, may collect navigational information, such as Your IP address, that is identifiable to you or your device. Please note that Google Analytics does use cookies. According to Google’s site, Google may use Google Analytics cookies to: (1) determine which domain to measure; (2) distinguish unique users; (3) throttle the request rate; (4) remember the number and time of previous visits; (5) remember traffic source information; (6) determine the start and end of a session; and (7) remember the value of visitor-level custom variables. Since all cookies are browser specific, if you return to a website via another web browser, then Google Analytics will set different cookies. For more information about Google, Inc.’s privacy policy and its use of cookies, as well as other technologies, including, but not limited to, Google Analytics, please visit www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy (privacy policy), www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/partners/ (privacy related to Google partners), and developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage (information related to cookie usage). See also generally www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. If you are interested in opting out of Google Analytics’ collection of information regarding your Site activity, please visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Google Maps. MSF has embedded in the Site, Google Maps, which will be available for directional use only. By using Google Maps, you agree to be bound by Google’s privacy policy (outlined above). MSF does not retain and/or store any personal information you input into Google Maps on the Site.
6. How does MSF use the information it collects?
We use personal information collected via our Sites for a variety of business purposes described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests, in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, with your consent, and/or for compliance with our legal obligations. We indicate the specific processing grounds we rely on next to each purpose listed below. Specifically, we use the information we collect or receive:
1. To Contact Site Users: We may use your information to contact users who opt-in to receive email updates to advise of upcoming events and information of interest. If you would like to opt-out of receiving emails, please use the following link. If you would like to opt-out of mail and phone calls, please contact us at the information list below.
2. To Improve User Experiences: We use navigational data and cookies (as outlined above) to monitor Site performance and improve user experiences.
3. Other Business Purposes: We may use your information for other business purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Site, products, services, marketing, and your experience.
7. How does MSF handle information received from outside the United States?

In some regions (like the European Economic Area), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; and (iv) if applicable, to data portability. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. To make such a request, please use the contact details provided below. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note however that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal.

If you are resident in the European Economic Area and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.
8. How does MSF treat “Do Not Track” requests from a user’s browser?
Users may have the option of enabling “Do Not Track” in their browsers, which sends a signal to websites that the user does not want to be tracked across multiple websites. MSF does not track users across multiple websites, regardless of whether users have enabled “Do Not Track.” However, third parties who have a presence in or through our website, such as advertising partners, may engage in such tracking. No uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this Privacy Policy.
9. Does MSF use personal information for advertising purposes?
MSF may use your personal information for internal promotion purposes, but MSF does not share personal information with third-party advertising companies, except as stated in our Privacy Policy. We note that we may share information with online third party mailing or marketing company to help us in our efforts to contact and communicate with you. If you opt-in, MSF may use information connected with your account to provide you with MSF updates which may interest you.
10. Under what circumstances does MSF disclose or transfer personal information to others?
There are circumstances where we will transfer and/or disclose your personal information to third parties. Those circumstances, subject to the limits of applicable law and in addition to other circumstances that may be listed in this Privacy Policy, are as follows:
1. Consent: MSF may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose.
2. Google Analytics: As noted, we may share navigational information with Google Analytics, which includes your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Site and other technical information.
3. Constant Contact: For users who opt-in to receive email newsletters, we share your information with Constant Contact, which is an online marketing company that provides us with email marketing software.
4. Subsidiaries and Affiliates: MSF may transfer personal information to its parent, subsidiaries, and corporate affiliates for purposes related to MSF service offerings as such offerings may change and develop over time.
5. Site Consultants and Service Providers: MSF transfers, or your visit to the Site will result in such transfer of, personal information to third-party service providers that may be hosting or housing data on behalf of MSF or otherwise acting on its behalf as a datacenter (such as providers of hosting, cloud, technology outsourcing and support services). Additionally, MSF may disclose personal information to the extent that our service providers require access to our databases, or the information contained in our databases, to service MSF and the Site.
6. Legal Compulsion and MSF’s Protection: MSF reserves the right to release personal information in response to a subpoena or otherwise when we believe that the law requires us to do so or when we believe it is necessary to resolve disputes or to protect and/or enforce the rights, property interests, or safety of MSF, our users, or others.
7. Reorganization or Sale of MSF: In the unlikely event that MSF is merged with or becomes part of another organization, or in the event that MSF is sold or it sells all or substantially all of its assets, or a brand or line of its business, the information you provide may be one of the transferred assets for use by the acquiring entity.
8. As Otherwise Allowed by Law: We may transfer personal information to third parties where we are expressly authorized by applicable law to do so.
11. How do you keep my personal information secure?

Although we cannot guarantee that our or third-party service providers’ servers are impenetrable, we have attempted to establish and implement reasonable safeguards to secure the information we collect online. We store information at MSF and also back-up information at a secure, remote location. As for donors to MSF, your information is stored in an SAS database with offsite, secure servers. No personal information is stored on the Site. Where we use a third-party hosting provider, like WP Engine, to collect, store, or process data, we attempt to use third-party service providers who likewise also establish and implement reasonable procedures. In the event that our, or where applicable, our third-party service providers’ security system is breached, we will attempt to notify you in accordance with applicable law.

12. Does the Site link to third party sites?

MSF may present the opportunity to link to third party sites. When using third party sites, you should review such party’s sites to understand how they treat personal information. While the Site may link to third party sites that track your actions on the Site, no personal information is provided by the Site to these third party sites.

13. Do California Residents have specific privacy rights?

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

Mind Science Foundation
Meriam M. Good
117 W El Prado Drive
San Antonio, TX 78212

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Sites, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Sites. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Sites, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from our systems.

14. How long do you keep my information?

MSF will keep your personal information for as long as we deem it useful in our business and for as long as the applicable law allows us to maintain it. No purpose in this policy will require us keeping your personal information for longer than 1 year. We note that our goal is to establish a relationship with our customers so that they always regard us as a resource for the services we offer. We also note that our customers always have the right to request that their information be deleted from our files. We will attempt to honor these request, subject to applicable law and our judgment that the information is not important for us to maintain for our internal record-keeping purposes for reasons other than continuing a commercial business relationship with you (e.g., for tax, accounting, and other transactional purposes). When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

15. How can I access and make changes to my personal information?

Subject to applicable law, technical feasibility, and MSF’s reasonable need to maintain such information, you can change any of the personal information or other information that we maintain in your account profile, by contacting us as directed below. If at any time you want to view the personal information that we maintain regarding you, your personal information changes, or you wish to remove some or all of the personal information or other information stored about you, you can, subject to the terms of use and the preceding paragraph, correct, update, or remove the information you have shared with us by contacting us as directed below.

16. How will I be notified of changes/updates to the Privacy Policy?

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy policy frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

17. Who do I contact about my rights under the Privacy Policy?

If you have comments, questions, or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or MSF’s privacy practices at the Site, you may contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO), Meriam M Good, by email at mgood@mindscience.org, or by post to:

Mind Science Foundation
Meriam M. Good
117 W El Prado Drive
San Antonio, TX 78212

Please note that any suggestions or similar communications relating to MSF’s business or the Site how they might be changed, enhanced, or improved are not treated as private or confidential under this Privacy Policy. We will, however, use reasonable efforts to de-identify you personally with the suggestion.