OCS Privacy Policy

This privacy statement covers all Our Community Salutes website properties ("OCS Websites") at ocsusa.org, www.ourcommunitysalutes.org, www.ocsconnect.com, and any other associated Our Community Salutes website or online property.

Information Collection and Use

Information Collection

OCS Websites collects information from our users at several different places on our website. Only users who have established an account on the OCS system can post information onto the site.

Registration

Only users who have established an account on OCS Websites can post information to the site.  Accounts are free (requires registration).

To establish an OCS Website user account, a user must first complete the registration process. During registration, a user is required to provide contact information, such as name and email address. OCS Websites use this information to contact the user to confirm his/her account and password and inform him/her about services on our site for which he/she has expressed interest. All other information collected is optional. We never collect information, such as income or social security number.

Profile

OCS Websites do not link information that we collect through cookies, log files, and/or third parties to create our users' profiles. Collected information is not tied to the user's information except in aggregate form. Collected information may help guide users searching the site and/or assess learners' activities in our workshops. In these cases, users will be asked to agree to use collected information for these purposes.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on a user's computer tied to a user's information. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site. We use only session ID cookies so that the cookie simply terminates once a user closes the browser. We do not use persistent cookies, a small text file stored on the user's hard drive for an extended period.

We use cookies, so, for example, a user would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. Information stored in cookies may assist users in finding, for example, things of interest to them among our product offers.

No business partners or other third parties use cookies on our site (for example, advertisers).

Third-Party Advertising

OCS Websites does not host or use any third-party advertising system or software on the site.

Log Files

Like most standard website servers, OCS uses log files, including internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and the number of clicks. These log files are used to analyze trends, administer the site, track users' movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses, etc., are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs)

OCS does not employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs).

HTML-based emails

HTML-based emails sent by OCS often contain images (gifs or jpegs) located on our web server. When the HTML-based email is opened, these images' loading is logged as part of our normal web-logging process. Tracking email allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and our marketing campaigns' effectiveness. If users would like to opt-out of these emails, please see the opt-out section.

Communications from the Site

Newsletter

If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact information such as name and email address. Out of respect for our users' privacy, we provide a way to opt-out of these communications. Please see the Choice and Opt-out sections.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions, it is necessary to send out a strictly service-related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, we might send users emails. These communications are not promotional. Users may opt-out of these communications. Please see our Choice and Opt-out section.

Customer Service

OCS Websites communicate with users regularly to provide requested services and regarding issues relating to their service. We reply via email or phone, in accordance with the users' wishes.

Sharing

Legal Disclaimer

Though OCS Websites makes every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose personal information to protect our legal rights, to protect against fraud, for risk management purposes, or when required by law wherein if we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our website.

Our offices and primary services are located in the United States.  However, when our users register with OCS Websites, they acknowledge that in using the website to send electronic communications, users will be causing communications to be sent through OCS Websites and our service providers' computer networks, portions of which may be located within or outside the United States.  As a result of the nature of electronic communications, even communications that seem to be intrastate in nature can result in the transmission of international communications regardless of where the user is physically located at the time of transmission. Therefore, users of this website acknowledge that the use of the website results in international data transmissions; by visiting the website and providing information, our users consent to the collection, transfer, storage, and processing of such information to and in the United States. Such information will be subject to U.S. law, and U.S. privacy and data protection laws may not be equivalent to the laws in our users' countries.

Aggregate information (non-personally identifiable)

OCS shares aggregated demographic information with our members, sponsors, and the general public. This is not linked to any personally identifiable information. Examples of the type of information we may share include the aggregated results of a survey and our chapters (but not individual member names).

Third-Party Advertisers

OCS Websites does not share website usage information about users with any unaffiliated third parties to target Internet banner advertisements on this site and other sites.

Third Party Intermediaries

In the future, OCS Websites may use an outside shipping company to ship orders and a 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.

Business Transitions

If OCS Websites goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, users' personal information may be part of the assets transferred. Users will be notified via email and a prominent notice on our website for 30 days before a change of ownership or control of their personal information. If, as a result of the business transition, the users' personally identifiable information will be used in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, they will be given a choice consistent with our notification of changes section.

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 information. For example, our order forms have an 'opt-out' mechanism so users who buy a product from us but don't want any marketing materials can keep their email addresses off of our lists. Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletters and promotional communications may opt-out of receiving these communications. Information on how to opt-out is always provided on our member services page.

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

Links

These websites contain links to other sites. Please be aware that we, OCS Websites, are not responsible for such other sites' privacy practices. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by OCS Websites.

Surveys

From time-to-time, our site requests information from users via surveys. Participation in these surveys is entirely voluntary, and the user, therefore, has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and email address) and demographic information (such as zip code). Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site. Users' personally identifiable information is not shared with third parties.

Tell-A-Friend

If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our site, we may ask him/her for the friend's name and email address. OCS will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting him/her to visit the site. OCS stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program. The friend may contact OCS using the contact information provided on our member services page to request the removal of this information from our database.

Security

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

While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also protect user-information off-line. All of our users' information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices and the secure location of our server-hosting provider. Only employees who need the information to perform specific jobs (for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. 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 users' information is protected. Finally, the servers that store personally identifiable information are in a secure environment, in a locked facility.

If users have any questions about the security at our website, they can contact OCS using the contact information provided on our member services page.

Supplementation of Information

In order for this website to properly fulfill its obligation to users, it is necessary for us to supplement the information we receive with information from third-party sources.

ID and Address Verification

OCS Websites do not use any third parties or third-party software to verify a user's identity or address.

Purchasing History

OCS does not share information about the purchasing habits of users with any unaffiliated third parties.

Enhancement of Marketing Profile

OCS purchases third party marketing data and adds it to our existing user database to better target potential new users of our site. This information is not linked to the 'profile' of individual users.

Correcting/Updating/Deleting/Deactivating Personal Information

If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code, phone, email, or postal address), or if a user no longer desires our service, we provide a way to correct, update or delete/deactivate users' personally identifiable information. Personal information can be changed on the User Profile page.

Notification of Changes

If OCS Websites decides to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate, so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected.

If, however, OCS Websites are going to use users' personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify users via email. Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their information in this different manner. However, if users have opted out of all communication with the site, or deleted/deactivated their account, then they will not be contacted, nor will their personal information be used in this new manner. In addition, if we make any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect user information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our website notifying users of the change. In some cases where we post a message, we will also email users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

Contact Information

By using our website, our users' consent to the collection of information as described in this Privacy Policy.  If users have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us.