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Privacy Policy

We recognize the importance of protecting the privacy of the users of this website. This Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices for the VSX website. The information about you collected on this website or gathered as a result of your use of this website is subject to this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy may change to reflect any new features or content. Please revisit this Privacy Policy from time to time to be sure that you are familiar with the then-current Policy.

Because this website wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance and to notify you of:
  • What personally identifiable information of yours or third party personally identifiable information that is collected from you through the website
  • The organization collecting the information
  • How the information is used
  • With whom the information may be shared
  • What choices are available to you regarding collection, use and distribution of the information
  • The kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under AAVSO control
  • How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information
  • If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should contact the AAVSO by sending an e-mail to aavso@aavso.org.
Information Collection and Use

The American Association of Variable Star Observers ("AAVSO", "we", "us") is the sole owner of the information collected on this website ("Site"). We will not disclose this information to others in ways different from those disclosed in this Privacy Policy.

We collect information from our users and encourage them to communicate with us at several different points on this Site, and we maintain this information only in electronic form within a database. We use the information that we collect from our users to provide the information and features available on this Site, as well as for development of new services and features and to otherwise improve this Site, and for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes. Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, we will not sell, share, rent or otherwise disclose to any third party any personally identifiable information that we collect from our users without their permission.

Some of the information collected on this Site or gathered as a result of your use of this Site is as follows:
  • We collect and store Site visitor information in aggregate form such as the operating system, platform, browser and geographic location of your computer.
  • We collect and store your access times and dates, page statistics, sites that referred you to our Site and the kind of errors you may encounter while using our Site.
  • We also collect and store the Internet Protocol ("IP") address of the computer you use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.
  • If you choose to identify yourself or others by sending us e-mail, regular mail, resumes or other correspondence, you may disclose personally identifiable information about yourself or others to us.
  • We use information we collect from the Site to analyze trends, administer this Site, monitor overall Site traffic and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.
  • We may provide certain non-personally identifiable information to third parties in aggregate form. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person.
If you send us personally identifiable information about yourself and request information that can be provided by third parties (e.g., press, clients, or others), we will share such information with those third parties to help answer or address any questions or inquiries you may have. In addition, we may contact you to respond to your particular inquiry. We may also disclose personally identifiable information and/or IP addresses to a third party if we believe in good faith that the law or legal process requires it, or to protect our rights or property or the rights or property of others.

All correspondence we receive from you, whether by e-mail, regular mail, or otherwise will be kept for as long as they are needed or are relevant.

Use of Cookies

This site uses cookies for session management, and uses form elements and/or cookies on each page to maintain a continuous user session. Form elements and/or cookies may contain a unique ID that identifies your browser session, but does not identify you specifically.

Security

All of the information that we collect is either stored electronically or is restricted in our offices. Only personnel who need the information to perform a specific job are granted access to personally identifiable information.

Please be advised, however, that although we have endeavored to create a secure and reliable site for you, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to or from this Site cannot be guaranteed. We urge you to exercise caution when conveying personal information over the Internet. For example, if you send us e-mail, you should know that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception.

When disclosing any personal information, you should remain mindful of the fact that it is potentially accessible to the public and, consequently, may be collected and used by others without your consent. You should therefore consider carefully if you want to submit sensitive information that you would not want disclosed to the public. You should also recognize that your use of the Internet and this Site is solely at your own risk. You agree that we have no responsibility or liability for the security of personal information transmitted via this Site, the Internet in general or through any other medium.

Correction/Updating of Personal Information

You may review and approve the information we collect about you. If any of this information changes, or if you no longer desire to use this Site, we will, at your request, correct, update or remove the information that you provided to us. You may request that we do so by sending an e-mail to: aavso@aavso.org.

Site Links

This Site may contain links to other websites, including other AAVSO websites. Please be aware that our other websites have their own separate privacy policies. With the exception of our own websites, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave this Site and to read the privacy statements of each and every site that collects personal information about you. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by this Site.

Privacy Contact

We welcome your questions or comments regarding this Privacy Policy and the use of your personal information. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about our information-collection practices, or if you wish to remove any of your personal information from our database, please contact us at: aavso@aavso.org. Alternatively, you can contact us in writing at AAVSO, 49 Bay State Road, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA, Attention: Privacy Care. If you do so, we may use the information you provide in the ways we have described in this Privacy Policy.

Notification of Change

If we are going to use your personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify you via e-mail. You will have a choice as to whether or not we use your information in this different manner. In addition, if we make any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect user information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our website notifying users of the change. In some cases where we post the notice we will also e-mail users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

Notice to European Users

Please note that the information you submit through this Site or otherwise provide to The American Association of Variable Star Observers will be transferred outside of the European Economic Area, for purposes of processing by The American Association of Variable Star Observers, a non-profit company located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., or its subsidiaries or affiliates located elsewhere, in order to provide the services of this Site to you. You are advised that the United States uses a sectoral model of privacy protection that relies on a mix of legislation, governmental regulation, and self-regulation. You are further advised that the Council of the European Union has found that this model does not provide "adequate" privacy protections as contemplated by Article 25 of the European Union's Data Directive. (Directive 95/46/EC, 1995 O.J. (L 281) 31) By agreeing to this Policy, you consent to the transfer of all such information to the United States and the processing of that information by The American Association of Variable Star Observers in the manner described in this Policy.
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