Your privacy is important to ASHRAE (“ASHRAE“, “we“, or “us“). We developed this Privacy Policy to describe how we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process Personal Information about you, including through https://www.ashrae.org and any other ASHRAE websites or applications that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Site”). If you have any questions or comments regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@ashrae.org.
1. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may revise and update this Privacy Policy from time to time and will post the updated Privacy Policy to the Site. If these changes are material (i.e., changes we believe you will find important), we will provide notice of changes by email or by posting notice of the changes on our Site. Where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent.
2. What is Personal Information?
“Personal Information” is information that, either alone or in combination with other information, identifies you. When we combine other information (i.e., information that does not, on its own, identify you) with Personal Information about you, we treat the combined information as Personal Information.
3. How We Collect and Use Personal Information
A. Personal Information You Provide to Us
We collect the following types of information that you provide to us:
- Contact Information
In various areas of the Site and in printed materials, we provide you the opportunity to submit a form with basic contact information, such as your name, email, or mailing address. With your permission, ASHRAE uses such information to inform you of new products, technical information and services, and upcoming events that may be of interest based on your participation in ASHRAE, expressed interests, selected industry codes, or industry engagement. After your membership expires, we may continue to send you occasional e-mails to provide you with offers to rejoin ASHRAE. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, the opt-out process is described in Section 5 of this Privacy Policy.
In addition, if you choose, you may participate in an ASHRAE e-mail list server by subscribing on the Site or by contacting ASHRAE staff directly. You may unsubscribe from these e-mail list servers by following the unsubscribe instructions found within the list email.
- Member Login Information
We process your member number and password to enable you to securely log into the Site, and we process information regarding your role with ASHRAE to appropriately control access to restricted content. We process this Personal Information only as necessary to provide you services on the Site under our Terms of Use and to further our legitimate interests in protecting the Site and content.
- Membership Information
ASHRAE uses the information provided through membership forms to process membership applications and related requests. For example, ASHRAE processes ASHRAE member grade and ASHRAE membership number when provided in advancement forms; membership in other associations; information on your involvement in ASHRAE such as offices held, committees served on, etc.; educational background; professional background; and personal and professional references. We process this information only as necessary to provide you with the benefits of membership. We also archive membership information for historical purposes.
- Bookstore Purchase and Event Registration Information
When you purchase books, papers, reports, and other offerings, we collect information relating to your purchase for the purpose of fulfilling your requested purchase and to help further our legitimate interest in better understanding your interests in technical subjects so we can improve our future offerings. Similarly, when you register for an event, we process Personal Information, such as special accommodations requested, in order to reserve your space at the event and to further our legitimate interest in preparing for the event.
- Payment Information
When you purchase a membership, register for an event, or buy products from us, third-party service providers acting on our behalf process payment information, including payment card details and billing and shipping addresses, to help us fulfill your orders.
- Information Collected through Various Forms
ASHRAE gathers information from online forms that are often similar or identical to the information it gathers from traditional printed forms. When you submit information through forms, whether offline or on the Site, you voluntarily provide ASHRAE with the information requested, and ASHRAE will use the information in order to take the action requested, to complete a requested transaction, or for other reasons related to the purposes for which you provide the information.
For example, award nomination forms allow individuals to nominate someone for ASHRAE awards. We use information submitted through award nomination forms to consider the nomination and to contact award winners to notify them of the award. As another example, ASHRAE uses information on a scholarship application, such as educational and employment record, references, and your advisor’s name, to process scholarships.
In addition, ASHRAE may check the information a user has provided via any forms against any information ASHRAE has about the user in its customer database. ASHRAE does this to help further its legitimate interests in maintaining the most current and accurate information about its customers.
B. Information We Automatically Collect through our Site
We collect the following types of information automatically when you use the Site:
- Log Information
When you use our Site, our servers automatically record information, including your Internet Protocol address (“IP Address”), browser type, referring URLs (e.g., the site you visited before coming to our Site), number of clicks, and how you interact with links on the Site, domain names associated with your internet service provider, pages viewed, and other such information (collectively, “Log File Information”). We may also collect similar information from emails sent to you which then help us track which emails are opened and which links are clicked by recipients. We use Log File Information collected from our implementation of the Site to further our legitimate interests in securing the Site by identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities, and in analyzing the effectiveness of our Site to improve the Site’s function and content.
- Cookies and Similar Technology
When you use or access the Site, we use cookies, device identifiers, and similar technologies such as pixels, web beacons, and local storage to collect information about how you use the Site. We process the information, including Personal Information, collected through such technologies to further our legitimate interests in operating the Site, enhance your experience through personalization, and help us better understand the features of the Site that you and other users are most interested in.
Some of our service providers (described in Section 4, below) and third parties from which we receive content (such as YouTube and Tint, a service that aggregates and embeds social media posts on the Site) use cookies or other methods to gather information regarding your use of our Site. For example, we use ShareThis to allow you to easily share content on the Site through social media, and ShareThis uses cookies which you can opt out of and learn more about by reading its Privacy Policy. Such third parties may use these cookies or other tracking methods for their own purposes by relating information about your use of our Site with any of your Personal Information that they may have. The use of such information by a third party depends on the privacy policy of that third party. If you would like more information, please see Section 12 for our contact information.
We and our advertisers (through the advertising network, AppNexus) use cookies and similar technologies to collect information for advertising purposes, such as which advertisements were viewed, how often they were clicked, and device location information to provide you with content and advertising that might be of particular interest to you. You may also request to opt-out of an advertiser’s use of cookies by visiting the National Advertising Initiative or the Digital Advertising Alliance. If you opt out of such cookies, you will continue to receive advertisements, but those advertisements will no longer be personalized for you.
Most browsers provide you with the ability to block, delete, or disable cookies, and your mobile device may allow you to disable transmission of device identifiers. If you choose to reject cookies or block device identifiers, some features of the Site may not be available or some functionality may be limited or unavailable. Please review the help pages of your browser or mobile device for assistance with changing your settings.
Without an industry or legal standard of interpreting Do Not Track Signals (“DNT”) sent to us by your browser, we do not respond to DNT signals at this time. To learn more about how DNT works, please visit http://allaboutdnt.com/.
4. To Whom We Disclose Personal Information
We will not disclose Personal Information about you except as set forth in this Privacy Policy or with your consent. This section describes to whom we disclose Personal Information, and for what purposes:
- ASHRAE Chapters and Sections. We disclose information to ASHRAE Chapters and Sections to facilitate communication between the Chapter and Section leaders and the members of their Chapters or Sections. Similarly, we disclose information as necessary to facilitate the communication of ASHRAE members who are investigating local interest in forming an ASHRAE Chapter or Section with the ASHRAE members in that geographic area. Such communication is critical to the success of ASHRAE’s Chapters and Sections. Members who receive this contact information agree to use such information only for limited ASHRAE business purposes.
- ASHRAE Committees, Councils, and Other Groups. By agreeing to participate on an ASHRAE Committee, Council, or other group, individuals consent for us to share their contact information with other members of the group. The members of the group agree to use such information only for limited ASHRAE business purposes.
- Our Service Providers. We employ service providers to perform tasks on our behalf and to assist us in providing the Site. For example, we employ service providers who help with sending emails and maintaining mailing lists (IMS, Infocus Marketing); performing marketing research (Baxter Research); assisting with the ASHRAE Journal and webinars (ON24, Alliance for Audited Media); maintaining and developing our website and apps (Bridgeline, Real Magnet, Results Direct, Element 11, Carmel Software); fulfilling orders and subscriptions (Curtis 1000, Survey & Ballot Systems, Access Worldwide, APC Postal Logistics, Clarivate / Techstreet, iEngineering, King Mailing Services, Lane Press, LSC Communications, Omeda, PBD Worldwide, Taylor and Francis, Web Courseworks); providing certification examination services (PSI Services LLC); and providing conference services (Experient, Confex, Swiftium, and Mira).
- Advertising. From time to time, we engage advertising services that target advertisements on third-party websites based on cookies or other information indicating previous interaction with our Site.
- Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics, an analytics service, to help us analyze the traffic on our Site. For more information on Google Analytics’ processing of Personal Information, please see “How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.”
- Companies Involved in Merger and Acquisition Transactions. In some cases, ASHRAE may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user data (including Personal Information) is typically one of the business assets transferred. Moreover, if ASHRAE, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, user data would be one of the assets that is reviewed and transferred or acquired by a third party.
- Law Enforcement, Government Agencies, and Courts. We may disclose Personal Information at the request of law enforcement or government agencies or in response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process to establish, protect, or exercise our legal or other rights or to defend against a legal claim or as otherwise required or allowed by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of a Customer or any other person. We may also disclose Personal Information to investigate or prevent a violation by you of any contractual or other relationship with us or your illegal or harmful activity.
5. E-Mail Opt-Out
ASHRAE values the privacy and communication preferences of its members and customers, and maintains an e-mail communication and anti-spam policy. You may choose not to receive marketing emails from us and can opt out of such e-mails through your account settings.
6. International Transfers to U.S.
If you are using the Site or otherwise communicating with ASHRAE from outside the United States, please be aware that Personal Information about you may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. The data protection laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using the Site, you consent to your information being transferred to the United States for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
7. Your Data Subject Rights
We provide you with access to—and the ability to edit or delete—certain categories of Personal Information through the Profile page. Our opt-out features, described in Section 5, also enable you to exercise your right to object to certain processing activities.
If you would like to access, amend, erase, export (i.e., data portability), or object to or restrict the processing of Personal Information, you may submit a request to GDPR_portability@ashrae.org. We will promptly review all such requests in accordance with applicable laws.
Depending on where you live, you may have a right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority or other regulatory agency if you believe that we have violated any of the rights concerning Personal Information about you. We encourage you to first reach out to us at GDPR_questions@ashrae.org, so we have an opportunity to address your concerns directly before you do so.
8. Personal Information from Children
We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information from children, and if we do not have a lawful basis to process such Personal Information under applicable law, we will promptly take steps to delete such Personal Information.
9. Retention of Personal Information
We will retain Personal Information about you for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes for which Personal Information about you has been collected as outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required by law.
10. How We Protect the Confidentiality and Integrity of Personal Information About You
We have implemented security measures to protect Personal Information from loss, misuse, and alteration. Despite these efforts to store Personal Information in a secure operating environment that is not available to the public, we cannot guarantee the security of Personal Information during its transmission or its storage on our systems. Further, while we attempt to ensure the integrity and security of Personal Information, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third parties such as so-called hackers from illegally obtaining access to Personal Information. We do not represent or warrant that Personal Information about you will be protected against, loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties.
ASHRAE has compiled this information with care, but ASHRAE has not investigated and ASHRAE expressly disclaims any duty to investigate any product, service, process, procedure, design or the like which may be described herein. The appearance of any technical data, editorial material or advertisement in ASHRAE.org or any of its electronic publications does not constitute endorsement, warranty or guarantee by ASHRAE of any product, service, process, procedure, design or the like. ASHRAE does not warrant that this information is free of errors and ASHRAE does not necessarily agree with any statement or opinion contained therein. The user assumes the entire risk of the use of any information contained in ASHRAE.org or its electronic publications.
ASHRAE Disclaimer – Information and Forums
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE), has provided the information, text, graphics and links herein as a convenience for informational purposes only. Persons accessing this information assume full responsibility for its use.
ASHRAE does not warrant the accuracy, completeness, currency, or usefulness of the information, text, graphics, links, products, processes, services, and other items contained in this World Wide Web site or any other site. Reference to specific products, processes, or services, as well as hyperlinks to other organizations, companies, government entities or intergovernmental bodies, neither constitutes nor implies recommendation or endorsement by ASHRAE or its members. The views and opinions of originators expressed do not necessarily state or reflect those of ASHRAE or ASHRAE members. The material included in this Web site has been compiled from a variety of sources, and is subject to change without notice from ASHRAE.
Except as expressly provided above, nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring by implication, estoppel or otherwise any license or right under any patent, copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right of ASHRAE or any third party.
The materials included in this Web site are provided ‘as is’ and without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, warranties as to merchantability, quality, fitness for a particular purpose, the results to be obtained from their use, or with respect to non-infringement. ASHRAE shall not be liable in any way whatsoever, including without limitation, for any damages, whether special, incidental, punitive, consequential, or otherwise for lost revenues, lost profits, lost data, loss of prospective economic advantage, or otherwise resulting from the use or misuse of this World Wide Web site, or the information, documents, software or other items referred to herein or resulting from any defects or failure thereof, even if ASHRAE has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by another party. This Web site could include inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes may be periodically made to the information herein; these changes may be incorporated in future revisions of this Web site.
Forum‘Forum’ includes any place where a site visitor or member can interact with ASHRAE.org and submit content or questions to the site. This includes discussion boards, classifieds, ask HVAC&R experts, comments on articles, e-mail or other functions offered as part of the ASHRAE Web site (the site). If you participate in any forum on the site, you must not:
- Defame, abuse, harass or threaten others;
- Make any bigoted, hateful, or racially offensive statements;
- Advocate illegal activity or discuss illegal activities with the intent to commit them;
- Post or distribute any material that infringes and/or violates any right of a third party or any law;
- Post or distribute any vulgar, obscene, discourteous, or indecent language or images;
- Advertise, sell to or solicit others;
- Use the forum for commercial purposes of any kind;
- Post or distribute any software or materials that contain a virus or other harmful component;
- Post material or make statements that do not generally pertain to the designated topic or theme of any forum on the site;
- Use the site in any manner as a form of communication other than about HVAC&R;
- Disparage any advertiser, member, affiliate or other organization, company or individual.
Site members and visitors shall remain solely responsible for the content of their messages. Information obtained in a forum may not be accurate or reliable. Never assume that people are who they say they are, know what they say they know, or are affiliated with whom they say they are affiliated within any forum. ASHRAE shall not be liable for any statement, misstatement, inaccuracy or omission of any type for any content submitted by a site member or visitor on any forum.
ASHRAE will remove or edit any content posted to any forum at any time and for any reason. By submitting or uploading any materials to any forum, you represent and warrant that you are the owner of such materials and by that action grant ASHRAE a perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable, nonexclusive right and license to use and reproduce any such material for display on the site or a derivative created from the site.
ASHRAE does not intend to quash the free flow of ideas and opinions about HVAC&R, but absolutely insists that all such information be sound, and offered in a professional and courteous manner.
