BostonYPA Privacy Policies

 
 

BostonYPA is committed to providing our members and event guests with exceptional service. As providing this service involves the collection, use and disclosure of some personal information about you, protecting and ensuring the privacy of your personal information is one of our highest priorities. One of the ways we do that is to have this Privacy Policy, which tells you why and how we collect, use and disclose your personal information.

This Privacy Policy applies to the Boston Young Professionals Association, "BostonYPA" and "BYPA".

BostonYPA operates in Boston, with the intent of creating a community for the young professional in Boston.  With our local community in mind, we realize some members may find us before they move to Boston, move to different states after becoming a member, and our website may be discovered by someone outside the U.S.  Because  BostonYPA is a U.S.-based company, our website is controlled from BostonYPA’s offices in the United States.  The data protection rules and rights of government access to your data in your country may be different than those in the United States.  BostonYPA will continue to process your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. 

SECTION 1 - COLLECTION AND USE

We will only collect personal information that is necessary for fulfilling an identified purpose.

For example, when you become a member, as part of the member registration and dues paying process we collect the personal information you give us, such as your name, address, email address, telephone number, and occupation. We use this information to, among other things:

  • verify identity;

  • prevent fraud and abuse;

  • record your membership details

  • register you for an event;

  • send you our newsletters, updates, reminders, related email marketing, and other information;

  • ensure a high standard of service to you;

  • meet regulatory requirements;

There are times when you may provide information to us voluntarily. This occurs when you provide feedback to us through emails, return forms, letters, telephone calls,  or enter a sweepstakes, contest, or promotion in which BostonYPA is the sponsor or is a promotional partner with the third-party sponsoring the sweepstakes, contest, or promotion. We use this information to respond to your query, to keep track of member and guest feedback, to add you to BostonYPA's email mailing list (please see the information on how to opt out below) and to improve our service to members.

Even if you do not make a purchase on our site or register for an event, we have the ability to track your usage of our website, including what pages you visit, what products you view, and the third-party sites that led you to our site. This information is not used to track information about individuals, but is used at an aggregate level to customize our site, improve the online experience, and plan outreach. When you browse our online website, we also automatically receive your computer’s Internet protocol (IP) address in order to provide us with information that helps us learn about your browser and operating system.

If at any time our website offers any chat rooms, comments, notice board facilities, reviews, social media, newsgroups etc. we may collect the information that you disclose. Such information will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Please note that we cannot be responsible for other parties’ use of the personal information, which you make available to such third parties through any chat room, comments, notice board, newsgroup etc. on this website.

Please be careful about what personal information you disclose in this way.

If at any time our website offers any e-mail, survey feedback, social media or forum facilities, we may collect the information, which you disclose. Such information will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

SECTION 2 - CONSENT

We will obtain your consent to collect, use or disclose personal information (except where, as noted below, we are authorized to do so without your consent).

Consent can be provided orally, in writing, or electronically, or it can be implied where the purpose for collecting, using or disclosing the personal information would be considered obvious and you voluntarily provide personal information for that purpose. For instance, when you provide us with personal information to become a member, we infer that you consent to our collecting it and using it for that specific reason only.  When you register for an event, you consent to have your name on the guest list.

Where applicable under law, consent may also be implied where you are given notice and a reasonable opportunity to opt-out of having your personal information being used for a purpose, and you do not opt-out. 

If we ask for your personal information for a secondary reason, like marketing, we will either ask you directly for your express consent, or provide you with an opportunity to say no. If, after opting-in to our email list, you no longer wish to be contacted, you may withdraw your consent by clicking the "unsubscribe" option in the email message, informing us at events@bostonypa.com, or mailing us at:

Boston Young Professionals Association
30 Newbury Street, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02215

If you send a text message, instant message, or any direct type messaging to a Board Member or Leadership Team member, you consent for that person to reply to you and that your conversation or phone number may be stored on their device.  You understand that their device may not be secure and assume all liability.

Subject to certain exceptions (e.g., the withdrawal of consent would frustrate the performance of a legal obligation), you can withhold or withdraw your consent. Your decision to withhold or withdraw your consent to certain uses of personal information may restrict our ability to provide you with the services related to your membership. If so, we will explain the situation to assist you making the decision.

We may collect, use or disclose personal information without your knowledge or consent in certain limited circumstances, including:

  • When the collection, use or disclosure of personal information is permitted or required by law;

  • In an emergency that threatens your life, health, or personal security;

  • When we require legal advice from a lawyer;

  • For the purposes of protecting ourselves from fraud;

  • To investigate an anticipated breach of an agreement or a contravention of law;

  • If our company is acquired or merged with another company, your information may be transferred to the new owners so that we may continue to sell products to you.

Contests:

  • For contests run by BostonYPA, on our platform, and with our team drawing the winner; contest terms will indicate indicate which information of the winner that will be passed along to the sponsoring company. Typically this includes first and last names, and email address of the winner.

  • For contests run by a sponsor, on their platform, all information that you provide at time of entry is subject to the sponsor’s privacy policy. An example of this is when you are at an event and fill out an entry form or provide a business card to sponsor.

Event Sponsors:

  • Rarely, event sponsors will ask for an attendee list. This will be indicated on the registration website, and only information from the RSVP form would qualify to be passed along.

Virtual and Lunchtime Networking Events:

  • To facilitate staying connected, we give you the option to have us include a link to your LinkedIn profile in the event wrap up email, which is sent to all attendees.

  • If you check off “yes” and / or provide the link, you are authorizing us to share the link to your profile.

Claiming a pass to an Outside Event:

  • We are often given passes to conferences, sporting events, social gatherings, and other categories for our Members to attend at no cost. In order to ensure the passes are claimed by our Members, we typically collect the RSVPs.

  • When you request or accept a pass, you are authorizing BostonYPA to provide your name and email address to the outside event host. Other information may be required such as your industry or to confirm you are over 21, which will be disclosed to you.

For European residents only. We will seek your consent to collect any personal information from you.  Under European data protection law, in certain circumstances, you have the right to:

  • Request access to any personal information we hold about you (“Subject Access Request”) as well as related information, including the purposes for processing the personal information, the recipients or categories of recipients with whom the personal information has been shared, where possible, the period for which the personal information will be stored, the source of the personal information, and the existence of any automated decision making;

  • Obtain without undue delay the rectification of any inaccurate personal information we hold about you;

  • Request that personal information held about you is deleted;

  • Prevent or restrict processing of your personal information; and

  • Request transfer of personal information directly to a third party where this is technically feasible.

You may make any of the above referenced requests by contacting us at events@bostonypa.com, or mailing us at:

Boston Young Professionals Association
30 Newbury Street, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02215

SECTION 3 - DISCLOSURE

BostonYPA does not sell or otherwise share your personal information with anyone else, such as advertising agencies or marketing companies. We only send marketing information to those customers who specifically sign up for our mailing list. Marketing information sent by BostonYPA may be sent by us as part of a cross-promotion or other collaboration with other companies or brands, but we do not disclose personal information to such companies or brands.

Should you attend an event and wish to be connected to someone you met, we may have the capacity to reach out to them to ask for their consent to disclose an email address or facilitated connection.  If they do not respond in writing, we cannot connect you after an event.  We recommend asking for someone's business card at the event if you'd like to speak with them in the future.

Participation at Events:

  • If you hand your business card to an event attendee, provide them with your contact information, connect with them on social media, or connect by any other means yourself, you are giving them consent to contact you. This is outside of the scope of our privacy policy.

  • If you attend a speed networking or speed dating event, you are giving BostonYPA permission to connect you with your “matches” when you fill out the form and provide information on the line which states “email address to provide my matches with”. If that line is left blank, we will not use your email address on file to connect you to your matches.

BostonYPA will share your personal information internally with those staff members who need it to run an event, help you use a member resource or carry out your instructions regarding the receipt of a request.  All volunteers and team members who can access your information have also signed privacy and non disclosure agreements. Outside of these activities, we will not disclose your personal information to any third party without your written consent unless required to do so by law.

SECTION 4 - Squarespace.com

BostonYPA does not currently retain credit card numbers internally. Instead, our online store processes cards with Squarespace.com. We require them to treat your personal information in at least as secure a manner as we do. For instance, we require that they store your data on a secure server behind a firewall and that they encrypt your credit card data in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). All direct payment gateways adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information by our online store and its service providers.

However, Squarespace.com has its own privacy policy, which you can read on their website.

SECTION 5 - SECURITY

BostonYPA uses a number of security measures to ensure that your personal information is appropriately protected, including:

Examples include: the use of locked filing cabinets; physically securing offices where personal information is held; the use of user IDs, passwords, encryption, firewalls; restricting employee access to personal information as appropriate (i.e., only those that need to know will have access; contractually requiring any service providers to provide comparable security measures)

In addition, we use encryption technology in our online store in an attempt to protect you against the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information. When you fill out any forms during checkout, a secure server encrypts your information through the use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

To be sure you’re browsing securely during a transaction, check your web browser’s status or address bar for the closed padlock icon. This icon indicates that you are viewing a secure web page. Also, all browsers display an “s” after the “http” (https://) in the website address to indicate that you are in a secure environment.

We will use appropriate security measures when destroying your personal information such as secure shredding documents, deleting electronically stored information.

SECTION 6 - COOKIES

BostonYPA, as with many other websites, makes use of “cookies” to help deliver a better member experience. Cookies are alphanumerical identification elements that we transfer to the hard drive of your computer via your web browser. They enable our systems to recognize your browser and to offer you value-added services, such as saving the contents of your shopping basket and to deliver a more personalized shopping experience.

The type of information we collect as a result of a cookie being accepted by you is specific to your PC and includes the IP address, the date and time the PC visited the website, what parts of our website were looked at and whether the web pages requested were delivered successfully. This information is anonymous; it represents a computer rather than a person.

You can erase or block this information by changing the settings on your computer (please refer to your help screens or manuals). If you do erase or block this information you may not be able to utilize some features of the website.

SECTION 7 - AGE OF CONSENT

This website and our online store is not intended for use by person under the age of majority in their jurisdiction. By using this site, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your state or province of residence, or that you are the age of majority in your state or province of residence and you have given us your consent to allow any minors under your care to use this site.

SECTION 8 - CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat your personal information by placing a prominent notice on our website or using the contact information you have provided.  Please review any notices carefully.  If you do not wish to continue using the website or sharing your personal information, you can request deletion of your personal information by contacting us. 

SECTION 9 - ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have a right to access your personal information.

A request to access personal information must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information being sought. A request to access personal information should be forwarded to our Privacy Compliance Officer, who can be reached at the contact information below.

Upon request, we will also tell you how we use your personal information and to whom it has been disclosed if applicable.

We will make the requested information available within 30 business days, or provide written notice of an extension where additional time is required to fulfill the request.

A minimal fee may be charged so that we can recover the cost of providing access to personal information. Where a fee may apply, we will inform you of the cost and request further direction from you on whether or not we should proceed with the request.

If a request is refused in full or in part, we will notify you in writing, providing the reasons for refusal and the recourse available to you.

QUESTIONS AND CONTACT INFORMATION

If you would like to: access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you, register a complaint, or simply want more information, please contact us at events@bostonypa.com, or by mail at:
Boston Young Professionals Association
30 Newbury Street, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02215