Privacy Policy

This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for http://www.the-ira.org, the official website of the International Research Association.

Because this web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and privacy practices. This web site has agreed to notify you of:

1. What personally identifiable information of yours, or third party personally identification, is collected from you through the web site.
2. How the information is used.
3. With whom the information may be shared.
4. What choices are available to you regarding collection, use, and distribution of the information.
5. How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information.
6. The kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under IRA control.

If you feel that this organization is not abiding by its posted privacy policy, you should contact International Research Association customer service at:

International Research Association
125 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02238
info@the-ira.org

Information Collection and Use

The International Research Association is the sole owner of the information collected on this site.  We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement.  The International Research Association collects information from our users at several different points on our website.

Enrollment

We request information from the user on our exam enrollment form. Here a user must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (like credit card number, expiration date).  This information is used for billing purposes and to register the user for an exam.  If we have trouble processing an order, this contact information is used to get in touch with the user.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s hard drive containing information about the user.  Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site.  Once the user closes their browser, the cookie simply terminates.  For instance, by setting a cookie on our site, the user would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site.  If a user rejects the cookie, they may still use our site.  The only drawback to this is that the user will be limited in some areas of our site.  Cookies can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site.

Log Files

We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track users' movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.  IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Sharing

We will share aggregated demographic information with our partners. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person.

We use an outside credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

We partner with another party to provide specific services. When the user signs up for these services, we will share names, or other contact information that is necessary for the third party to provide these services.

These parties are not allowed to use personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services.

Links

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we, the International Research Association, are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites.  We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site.

Newsletter

If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact information such as name and email address.

Surveys

From time-to-time our site requests information from users via surveys.  Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information.  Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as zip code, age level).  Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site.

Tell-A-Friend

If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our site, we ask them for the friend’s name and email address.  The International Research Association will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the site.  The International Research Association stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email.  The friend may contact the International Research Association here to request the removal of this information from the database.

Security

This website takes every precaution to protect our users’ information.  When users submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and off-line. 

When our registration form asks users to enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number), that information is encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the industry - SSL.  While on a secure page, such as our order form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked, or open, when you are just ‘surfing’. 

While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect user-information off-line.  All of our users’ information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices.  Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information.  Our employees must use password-protected screen-savers when they leave their desk.  When they return, they must re-enter their password to re-gain access to your information.  Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Every quarter, as well as any time new policies are added, our employees are notified and/or reminded about the importance we place on privacy, and what they can do to ensure our customers’ information is protected.  Finally, the servers that we store personally identifiable information on are kept in a secure environment, behind a locked cage. 

Special Offers

We send all new members a welcoming email to verify password and username. Established members will occasionally receive information on products, services, special deals, and a newsletter. Out of respect for the privacy of our users we present the option to not receive these types of communications. Please see our choice and opt-out below.

Site and Service Updates

We also send the user site and service announcement updates. Members are not able to un-subscribe from service announcements, which contain important information about the service. We communicate with the user to provide requested services and in regards to issues relating to their account via email or phone.

Correction/Updating Personal Information

If a user’s personally identifiable information changes (such as your zip code), or if a user no longer desires our service, we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update or remove that user’s personal data provided to us.  This can usually be done at the member information page or by emailing our Customer Support. We also provide telephone or postal mail options for updating or correcting personal information.

Choice/Opt-out

Our users are given the opportunity to ‘opt-out’ of having their information used for purposes not directly related to our site at the point where we ask for the information. 

Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional materials from our partners may opt-out of receiving these communications by clicking here.

Users of our site are always notified when their information is being collected by any outside parties. We do this so our users can make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with services that require an outside party, or not.

Notification of Changes

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on our home page so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.  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 will notify users by way of an email.  Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their information in this different manner. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.

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