LINC Website Privacy Policy

This policy was last updated in April 2022.

Introduction

The LINC-LV.org site and associated DEI.LINC-LV.org site (the “Site”) is an offering of Lehigh Valley Inter-Regional Networking & Connecting Consortium (“LINC”), an organization located in Pennsylvania, United States.

LINC is committed to protecting your personal information. This privacy statement explains how we treat your personal information when you use the Site. By using the Site and submitting any personal information, you agree to the terms of this statement.

‘LINC,’ ‘we’ and ‘us’ refer to Lehigh Valley Inter-Regional Networking & Connecting Consortium.

Information collection 

We collect personal information voluntarily provided by you through the Site, for example, when you pledge or email the Site administrators, which could include identifiers such as your name, email address and phone number. We also collect information about your device, browser, IP address and general location when you use the Site.

LINC does not intend to collect sensitive personal information about you through the Site. Sensitive personal information includes a number of types of data relating to: race or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or other similar beliefs; trade union membership; physical or mental health; sexual life or criminal record. If you provide sensitive personal information to LINC through the Site, you do so voluntarily and LINC accepts your consent for us to collect, store and use your sensitive personal information in the same ways as other personal information we collect.

If you believe the Site has collected excessive information, we encourage you to contact us at info@linc-lv.com to raise your concerns.

Information use

The primary purposes for which LINC collects your personal information on the Site and for which LINC may use it are to respond to any inquiries you make through the “contact us” function and to send you content and information via email about LINC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion resources and announcements. Please see “Your Choices” below for instructions on how you may unsubscribe from receiving such communications. Other purposes for which LINC may use your personal information are: 

  • To operate, administer, manage and improve the Site and the user experience
  • To conduct data analysis regarding the performance and use of the Site and the demographics of its users for use by LINC
  • To maintain and improve the safety and security of the Site
  • To prevent and enhance protection against fraud, spam, harassment, intellectual property infringement, crime and security risks
  • To comply with law and legal obligations as well as professional standards and firm policies

The Site does not intend to collect or compile personal information for dissemination or sale to outside parties for consumer marketing purposes, or host mailings on behalf of third parties.

Cookies and other online identification technologies

Cookies and other online identification technologies such as pixels and web beacons (“Tracking Technologies”) may be used on some pages of the Site. “Cookies” are small text files placed on your device that assist us in providing a more customized website experience. For example, a cookie can be used to store registration information in an area of the site so that a user does not need to re-enter it on subsequent visits to that area. It is LINC’s policy to use cookies to make navigation of our websites easier for visitors and to facilitate efficient registration procedures. Site statistics are compiled by third parties and therefore your IP address will be passed to third parties for statistical reporting only.

LINC may use Tracking Technologies from marketing partners on our Site, third party sites, and social media platforms. These Tracking Technologies aid in measuring the efficacy of our marketing and awareness campaigns and to understand how visitors navigate to our Site from a LINC ad. We may use these technologies to compile aggregated statistics about visitors who interact with LINC online content, to gauge the effectiveness of our ads and to better provide more pertinent information to our visitors.

If you are concerned about cookies, most browsers permit individuals to decline cookies. In most cases, a visitor may refuse a cookie and still fully navigate our website; however, other functionality in the site may be impaired. After your visit to the Site, you can always delete the cookie from your system if you wish.

In order to properly manage our website, we may anonymously log information on our operational systems, and identify categories of visitors by items such as domains and browser types. These statistics are reported in the aggregate to our webmasters. This is to ensure that our website presents the best web experience for visitors and is an effective information resource.

Further information about cookies used on the Site is available here:

More information on Cloudflare cookie information click here. 

More information on Google Analytics cookie information click here.

More information on Mailchimp cookie information click here.

More information on Stripe cookie information click here.

More information on WooCommerce cookie information click here.

Information sharing

In common with other professional service providers, LINC may transfer or disclose the information it collects, including your information, to third party contractors or subcontractors for the purposes for which you have submitted the information and for the administration of our system or Site and/or other internal, administrative purposes. We transfer your information to third party service providers of identity management, website hosting and management, data analysis, data backup, security and storage services.

LINC may also disclose information to third parties under the following circumstances:

  • As required by applicable law, statute, rule, regulation or professional standard, or through subpoena, search warrant or other legal process
  • For regulatory compliance purposes
  • When explicitly requested by a visitor
  • When required to deliver publications or reference materials requested by a visitor
  • When required to facilitate conferences or events hosted by a third party
  • As necessary in connection with a corporate reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or capital

LINC does not sell personal information collected in connection with the Site.

Information Transfer

Your information will not be transferred outside of the U.S. or your country of residence.

Third Party Sites

The Site may link to other websites which do not operate under LINC’s privacy practices. When you link to other websites, LINC’s privacy practices no longer apply. We encourage you to review each site’s privacy policy before disclosing any personal information.

Your Choices

Unsubscribe

Should you wish to unsubscribe from our mailing list or any registrations, we will provide instructions in communications to you, or you may contact info@linc-lv.com. 

Managing Cookies

If you are concerned about cookies, most browsers permit individuals to decline cookies. In most cases, you may refuse or delete one or more cookies and still access the Site, but Site functionality may be impaired. After you finish browsing this Site, you may delete Site cookies from your system if you wish.

Do Not Track

Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that you can set in your web browser to send a message to the website operator requesting not to be tracked. Currently, we do not respond to these DNT signals. For more information about DNT, visit https://allaboutdnt.com/.

Access

If you would like to update your information or request to have outdated information removed, please contact us at: info@linc-lv.com.

Rights

Depending on the jurisdiction in which you are located, you may have certain rights with respect to your personal information. Subject to applicable law, these rights may include:

  • the right to know what personal information about you we have collected, disclosed, and/or sold, as applicable;
  • the right to obtain a copy of your personal information;
  • the right to have your personal information deleted;
  • the right to direct us not to sell your personal information (but as noted above, we do not sell personal information collected about you in connection with the Site);
  • the right to rectify or update your personal information;
  • the right to restrict the processing of your personal information;
  • the right to object to the processing of your personal information;
  • the right to withdraw your consent for processing (where processing is based on your consent). Please note that if you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you the services for which it was necessary to process your information based on your consent; and
  • the right to exercise your privacy rights without discriminatory treatment from us.

To exercise any of the rights described above, please submit a verifiable request to us by emailing info@linc-lv.com.  

The verifiable request must describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it, and provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative. Please, however, refrain from sending us sensitive personal information.

Where permitted by law, you may use an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf if you have provided the authorized agent written and signed permission to do so. We may not be able to fulfill your request if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. Making a verifiable request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe in accordance with applicable law. We reserve the right to charge an appropriate fee for complying with a request where permitted by applicable law, and to deny a request where it may be manifestly unfounded, excessive, or unwarranted under applicable law.

We hope that you won’t ever need to, but if you do want to complain about our use of personal information, please send us a message with the details of your complaint to info@linc-lv.com. 

Security

LINC has implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security designed to protect personal information from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. Only authorized LINC personnel are provided access to personal information and these employees have agreed to maintain the confidentiality of this information.

Children

LINC understands the importance of protecting children’s privacy, especially in an online environment. The Site is not intentionally designed for or directed at children under the age of 18 years. It is LINC’s policy never to knowingly collect or maintain personal information about children under the age of 18.

Data Retention

We will retain the personal information collected by us through the Site for as long as is necessary for the purpose(s) for which it was collected as set out in this Privacy Statement, provided that personal information may be held for longer periods where extended retention periods are required by law, regulation or professional standards, and in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.

Modifications

LINC may update this Privacy Statement at any time by publishing an updated version here. You can access the most current version of this privacy statement at any time on this Site.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Statement or about our privacy practices, please contact us at info@linc-lv.com. 

 

 

Privacy Notice for California Residents

Effective Date: May 12, 2022

Last Reviewed on: May 12, 2022

This Privacy Notice for California Residents supplements the information contained in LINC’s general Privacy Policy above, and applies solely to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California (“consumers” or “you”). We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) and any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this Notice.

Information We Collect

We collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer, household, or device (“personal information“). Personal information does not include:

Publicly available information from government records.

Deidentified or aggregated consumer information.

Information excluded from the CCPA’s scope, like:

Health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data;

Personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

In particular, we have collected the following categories of personal information from our consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

 

Category Examples Collected
A. Identifiers. A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, or other similar identifiers. YES
B. Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)). A name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information.

Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories.

 YES
C. Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law. Age (40 years or older), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information).

 

 NO
D. Commercial information. Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. YES
E. Biometric information. Genetic, physiological, behavioral, and biological characteristics, or activity patterns used to extract a template or other identifier or identifying information, such as, fingerprints, faceprints, and voiceprints, iris or retina scans, keystroke, gait, or other physical patterns, and sleep, health, or exercise data. NO
F. Internet or other similar network activity. Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer’s interaction with a website, application, or advertisement. YES
G. Geolocation data. Physical location or movements. YES
H. Sensory data. Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information. NO
I. Professional or employment-related information. Current or past job history or performance evaluations. YES
J. Non-public education information (per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99)). Education records directly related to a student maintained by an educational institution or party acting on its behalf, such as grades, transcripts, class lists, student schedules, student identification codes, student financial information, or student disciplinary records. NO
K. Inferences drawn from other personal information. Profile reflecting a person’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes. NO

We obtain the categories of personal information listed above from the following categories of sources:

Directly from you. For example, from forms you complete or products and services you purchase.

Indirectly from you. For example, from observing your actions on our Website.

Use of Personal Information

We may use or disclose the personal information we collect for one or more of the following purposes:

  • To fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information. For example, if you share your name and contact information to request a price quote or ask a question about our products or services, we will use that personal information to respond to your inquiry. If you provide your personal information to purchase a product or service, we will use that information to process your payment and facilitate delivery. We may also save your information to facilitate new product orders or process returns.
  • To provide certain services, such as networking or roundtable facilitation.
  • To provide, support, personalize, and develop our Website, products, and services.
  • To create, maintain, customize, and secure your account with us.
  • To process your requests, purchases, transactions, and payments and prevent transactional fraud.
  • To provide you with support and to respond to your inquiries, including to investigate and address your concerns and monitor and improve our responses.
  • To help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our Website, products and services, databases and other technology assets, and business.
  • For testing, research, analysis, and product development, including to develop and improve our Website, products, and services.
  • To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
  • As described to you when collecting your personal information or as otherwise set forth in the CCPA.
  • To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us  about our customers is among the assets transferred.

We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.

Sharing Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information to a third-party service provider for a business purpose, but we shall not sell your personal information to a third party.

Disclosures of Personal Information for a Business Purpose

In the preceding twelve (12) months, LINC may have disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:

Category A: Identifiers.

Category B: California Customer Records personal information categories.

Category D: Commercial information.

Category F: Internet or other similar network activity.

Category I: Professional or employment-related information.

Sales of Personal Information

In the preceding twelve (12) months, LINC has not sold personal information.

Your Rights and Choices

The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you:

  • The categories of personal information we collected about you.
  • The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you.
  • Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling that personal information.
  • The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information.
  • The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request).
  • If we sold or disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:
    • sales, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and
    • disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.

We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, or otherwise perform our contract with you.

Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.

Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.

Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.

Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.).

Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information’s deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research’s achievement, if you previously provided informed consent.

Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.

Comply with a legal obligation.

Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by either:

Emailing us at info@linc-lv.org or

Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child or a child for whom you are the legal guardian.

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:

Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative, which may include:

Name, address, telephone, number, and/or email address.

Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you.

Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us.

We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

For instructions on exercising sale opt-out rights, see Accessing, Updating, and Deleting Your Personal Data.

Response Timing and Format

We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.

If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.

Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

No Sale of Personal Information

We do not currently sell any personal information (including personal information of users we actually know are less than 21 years of age).

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

Deny you goods or services.

Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.

Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.

Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

However, we may offer you certain financial incentives permitted by the CCPA that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. Any CCPA-permitted financial incentive we offer will reasonably relate to your personal information’s value and contain written terms that describe the program’s material aspects. Participation in a financial incentive program requires your prior opt in consent, which you may revoke at any time.

Other California Privacy Rights

See above regarding your rights under California’s “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83).

Changes to Our Privacy Notice

We reserve the right to amend this privacy notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to this privacy notice, we will post the updated notice on the Website and update the notice’s effective date. Your continued use of our Website following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this notice, the ways in which we collect and use your information described here and in this Privacy Policy, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights under California law, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Website: https://linc-lv.org/

Email info@linc-lv.org

Attn:  Privacy Policy Inquiries