Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Wildlife Conservation Society ("WCS") is committed to protecting the privacy of all individuals who utilize our websites or services according to the WCS Terms of Use. This statement applies with respect to the information that we collect from this WCS website (the "Site"). Amendments to this Privacy Policy will be posted at this URL and will be effective when posted. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of any amendment, modification or change shall constitute your acceptance thereof.

What Information We Collect and How We Collect It

Anonymous Information:

WCS may collect anonymous information about users who visit our Site and aggregate this anonymous information for statistical analysis. For instance, we may use it to determine usage patterns so we know which parts of our Site are most popular. Examples of the type of anonymous information we collect and how we collect it are:

User environment: information about your browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox), operating system (e.g., Windows, Apple OS), Internet service provider (e.g., Time Warner, Verizon), and similar information.
Cookies: small pieces of information stored on your computer's hard drive that help you to navigate a website and to deliver content specific to your interests and prevent you from reentering all your account data at each connection. Like many websites, we use cookies to collect website usage data and to improve the Site. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies. You can instruct your browser, by editing its options, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting cookies from the websites you visit.
IP Addresses: a number assigned to your computer. Please note your IP address could be used by legal authorities to identify you.

Personally Identifiable Information:

What is Personally Identifiable Information? Personally Identifiable Information ("PII" or "Your Information") is any representation of information that permits your identity to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect means. Further, PII is defined as information: (i) that directly identifies you (e.g., name, address, social security number or other identifying number or code, telephone number, email address, etc.) or (ii) by which an agency intends to identify specific individuals in conjunction with other data elements, i.e., indirect identification. (These data elements may include a combination of gender, race, birth date, geographic indicator, and other descriptors). Additionally, information permitting the physical or online contacting of a specific individual (e.g., you) is the same as personally identifiable information. This information can be maintained in either paper, electronic or other media.

How We Collect Your Information. WCS collects Your Information only when you voluntarily provide it to us on our Site, such as during an online transaction to purchase products or subscriptions, make a donation, sign up to receive emails, become a member or complete a registration or survey. You may need to provide Your Information to participate in certain WCS programs and activities or receive certain services or offers. Please note that when you purchase some items offered on our Site, you must provide Your Information to a third-party service provider on its website. In these circumstances, you will know that you are on another website because the URL will change. You should read the privacy policy of the third-party site before providing Your Information.

How We Use Your Information. WCS will use Your Information for the purpose for which you give it to us (e.g., to complete an online purchase, donation, membership, or program registration). We may use Your Information to send you occasional postal and/or electronic mailings about WCS and its programs that we think interest you. WCS may also use Your Information to send you occasional postal and/or electronic mailings about third parties whose information or services we think may be of interest to you.

Your Ability to Choose. You may "opt out" of receiving marketing information that WCS sends to you by unsubscribing to the mailing list, following instructions in the applicable information sent to you, or by contacting WCS at: einfo@wcs.org.

How We Share Your Information. WCS may share Your Information with third parties that perform services for WCS, such as conducting membership mailings or providing postal and electronic mailing platforms and services. WCS also reserves the right to disclose Your Information in circumstances that WCS deems necessary or appropriate, such as to respond to legal process or a request from a governmental agency, security reasons or similar situations.

Please note that if you provide Information through our Site, your Information may be shared with third parties (e.g., other nonprofit organizations, marketers) whose information or services we think may be of interest to you. These third parties may wish to communicate with you by regular mail or email or share your information with others. If you do not want the service provider to communicate with you or share your information, you may contact WCS at: einfo@wcs.org.

Users may access the Site through third party accounts (e.g., Facebook or Google+ accounts). If you "like," for example, or post a comment on the Site while logged into Facebook or Google+, this information will be shared with those social media sites in accordance with their respective privacy and terms and use policies. Please consult the applicable websites for details.

WCS engages certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to us, including but not limited to web hosting and server configuration, performance monitoring and analysis, application design and development, and database storage and management. WCS may share Your Information with these third parties, but only to the extent necessary to perform these functions and provide such services to enable WCS to maintain the Site, and only pursuant to contractual obligations requiring such third parties to maintain the privacy and security of your data.

SECURITY

WCS strives to keep Your Information secure and safeguard it from unauthorized access by using industry-standard security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. WCS encrypts credit card numbers, provides firewalls to protect our servers, and implements virus/intrusion detection software. However, no transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so you provide Your Information at your own risk.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

Our Site may include links to other websites that may be of interest to you. Any links are provided only as a convenience and do not imply any endorsement of another site. WCS is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites, so be sure to read the privacy policies on other websites.

USE OF SERVICES BY MINORS

WCS recognizes the need to provide further privacy protections with respect to personal information we may collect on the Site from children under the age of thirteen (13), a circumstance arising only in educational contexts. When we intend to collect personal information from children, we take additional steps to protect children's privacy, including:

Notifying parents about their child's registration and use of the Site, and directing them to where they can review our information practices with regards to children;

In accordance with applicable law, obtaining consent from parents for the collection of personal information from their children, or for sending information about our services directly to their children;

Limiting our collection of personal information from children to no more than is reasonably necessary to participate in an online activity;

Giving parents access or the ability to request access to personal information we have collected from their children and the ability to request that the personal information be changed or deleted.

For additional information about our practices regarding children's personal information, please read the WCS Children's Privacy Policy.

NO LIABILITY FOR ACTS OF THIRD PARTIES

Although WCS will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard the confidentiality of Your Information, transmissions made by means of the Internet cannot be made absolutely secure. WCS will have no liability for disclosure of Your Information due to errors in transmission or unauthorized acts of third parties.

NOTE TO USERS IN EUROPEAN UNION AND OTHER COUNTRIES WITH DATA PROTECTION LAWS

WCS is committed to protecting personal data to the fullest extent of its Privacy Policy. Because WCS is based in the U.S., this policy is consistent with U.S. law and practice. This Privacy Policy is not adapted to European laws. By agreeing to WCS' Privacy Policy, you consent to WCS applying its Privacy Policy in place of data protections under your country's law. That is, you freely and unambiguously consent that:

Terms of this Privacy Policy, not your home country's laws, control how WCS will process personally identifiable information about you.

Data you enter on this Site, and other data connected with your account, will be transmitted to and processed in the U.S., a jurisdiction whose laws do not offer data protections equivalent to those of your home country.

Sensitive data will also be processed consistent with this Privacy Policy and transmitted to/processed in the U.S., a jurisdiction without equivalent data protections.

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