Privacy Policy

 

Your privacy is important to us.

We have prepared this Privacy Policy to explain to you how we collect, use, and share information we obtain through your use of the sites, RSS feeds, newsletters, applications, application programming interfaces (APIs), and services (herein, "Services") that are operated by or controlled by MIT Enterprise Forum (referred to as "MIT Enterprise Forum," "we," "us," or "our"). The MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) is a global organization of dedicated professionals with local chapters, affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through MIT Enterprise Forum.

This Privacy Policy does not govern our use of any information you provide to us when you call us, write to us, or communicate with us in any manner other than through the Services. Because the Internet is global, information about you that we collect or that you submit, in each case in connection with your use of the Services, may be transferred to, processed in, and held in countries (including the United States) other than the one in which you reside. By using the Services, you explicitly consent to such use of your information and agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Information MIT Enterprise Forum Collects

MIT Enterprise Forum may collect two (2) types of information about you: Personal and Non- Personal.

  1. Personal Information. "Personal Information" refers to information that lets MIT Enterprise Forum know the specifics of who you are and which may be used to identify, contact or locate you (e.g., name, mailing address, telephone number and e-mail address). MIT Enterprise Forum may collect Personal Information when you use our Services, including, without limitation, this list of options (herein, "Shared Information"):

    1. Competition Registration. Entry for the MIT Enterprise Forum Competition requires that you supply certain personally identifiable information, including, in most cases, a unique e-mail address and demographic information.

    2. Surveys, Panels, and Market Research. MIT Enterprise Forum may collect personal information from you in connection with voluntary surveys. Unless we notify you otherwise at the time of collection, the information you provide in response to optional survey questions may be shared, but only in aggregate form, with advertisers and partners.

    3. Usage Data. MIT Enterprise Forum may collect information as you interact with the Services. For example, each time you visit the Services, we may automatically collect the Web page you came from, the URL you go to next, and the Web page(s) that you access during your visit.

  2. Non-Personal Information. "Non-Personal Information" refers to information that, by itself, does not identify you as a specific individual (e.g., demographic information or website visits). MIT Enterprise Forum may collect Non-Personal Information through any of the methods discussed above, as well as automatically through use of industry standard technologies described further below. For example, each time you visit the Services, we may automatically collect your IP address, browser and computer type, and access time.

How MIT Enterprise Forum Collects Your Information

The Personal Information practices set forth apply to all MIT Enterprise Forum's customers worldwide.

  1. Registration. MIT Enterprise Forum may require certain Personal Information and Non-Personal Information to create an individual account ("Account") or to enable features or functionality of the MIT Enterprise Forum Network. Failure to provide all information required by MIT Enterprise Forum may prevent access to any or all of the MIT Enterprise Forum Network, and failure to maintain accurate information may result in suspension or termination of access to any or all of the MIT Enterprise Forum Network.

    1. Information Collected Through Technology. MIT Enterprise Forum Services may gather the previously referenced Personal Information and Non-Personal Information by the following methods: Cookies. Cookies, including local shared objects, are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. They work by assigning to your computer a unique number that has no meaning outside of the MIT Enterprise Forum Services. Cookies do not generally contain any Personal Information. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually configure your browser to prevent this. Not accepting cookies may make certain features of the MIT Enterprise Forum Network unavailable to you.

      We use cookies for the following general purposes: (a) to track your preferences, such as the address or local zip code you enter; (b) to access your information when you sign in so we can provide you with your personalized content; (c) to display the most appropriate advertisements, based on your interests and activity on our Services; and (d) to help us improve the Services by analyzing and estimating our traffic and use of features on the Services.

      We may also use "pixel tags," which are small graphic files that allow us to monitor the use of the Services. A pixel tag can collect information such as the IP address of the computer that downloaded the page on which the tag appears; the URL of the page on which the tag appears; the time (and length of time) the page containing the tag was viewed; the type of browser that retrieved the tag; and the identification number of any cookie previously placed by that server on your computer.

      We may use pixel tags, provided either by us or by our third-party advertisers and ad networks, to collect information about your visit-including the pages you view, the links you click, and other actions taken in connection with our Services-and use them in combination with our cookies to provide offers and information of interest to you.

      We also may allow certain analytic services and providers of applications used on the Services (e.g., sharing buttons) to collect Non-Personal Information by placing cookies on the Services that will track certain performance measures, such as Web traffic, click-throughs, etc., in order to assist us and our service providers in better understanding and serving the interests of our users.

    2. IP Address. You may visit many areas of the MIT Enterprise Forum Services anonymously without becoming a registered User. Even in such cases, MIT Enterprise Forum may collect IP addresses automatically. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you begin Services with an Internet service provider. Each time you access the MIT Enterprise Forum Services and each time you request one of MIT Enterprise Forum's pages, the server logs your IP address.

    3. Beacons. Beacons are small pieces of data that are embedded in Web pages, applications, and e-mails. MIT Enterprise Forum may use these technical methods in HTML e-mails that MIT Enterprise Forum sends to users to determine whether they have opened those e-mails and/or clicked on links in those e-mails.

    4. Tracking Content Usage. If you use the MIT Enterprise Forum Services and you post MIT Enterprise Forum materials including, without limitation, text, logos, artwork, graphics, pictures, advertisements, sound, and other related content contained in such materials (collectively, "Content") to your website or to a third-party website, MIT Enterprise Forum may still track and capture Personal Information and Non-Personal Information associated with those materials.

How MIT Enterprise Forum Uses Your Information

  1. Generally. Except as otherwise described in this section of our Privacy Policy, we will never share your Usage Data, Personal Information, Non-Personal Information, or Shared Information (which we will refer to in this Privacy Policy collectively as "User Information") with any third party without your permission.

  2. System Administration. MIT Enterprise Forum may use Non-Personal Information for the purposes of system administration, assisting in diagnosing problems with MIT Enterprise Forum servers, monitoring MIT Enterprise Forum's system performance and traffic on the MIT Enterprise Forum Network, and gathering broad demographic information about MIT Enterprise Forum customers.

  3. Personalization. MIT Enterprise Forum uses cookies and IP addresses to track features such as delivering Content specific to your interests and informing you of new, relevant services or certain third-party offerings.

  4. E-mail. MIT Enterprise Forum complies fully with the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

    1. Account Related E-mails. MIT Enterprise Forum reserves the right to send you e-mail relating to your account status. This includes email confirmation and other transactional e-mails and notifications about major changes to MIT Enterprise Forum or our Privacy Policy.

    2. Newsletters. MIT Enterprise Forum may send newsletters related to the MIT Enterprise Forum Startup Competition.

  5. Contact Information. If you contact MIT Enterprise Forum by telephone, e-mail, or letter, MIT Enterprise Forum may keep a record of your contact information and correspondence. If you report a problem with the website, MIT Enterprise Forum may collect this information in a file specific to you. You may contact MIT Enterprise Forum to request the removal of this information from MIT Enterprise Forum's database.

  6. Aggregated Data. From time to time, we may share aggregated User Information with third parties. We will not, however, share any aggregated data in manner that would enable the recipient to personally identify you.

  7. Service Providers. From time to time, we may enter into relationships with third parties who provide services to us (e.g., data management and storage services or credit card processing services). In those circumstances, we disclose User Information that is necessary for such service providers to perform those services, and we require that they maintain the confidentiality of such User Information.

  8. Other Disclosure Scenarios. Notwithstanding anything in this Privacy Policy to the contrary, we reserve the right, and you hereby expressly authorize us, to share any User Information: (1) in response to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish, protect, or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims; (2) if we believe it is necessary in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potentially illegal activities, fraud, or situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person or property; (3) if we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding significant abuse of the Services' infrastructure or the Internet in general (such as voluminous spamming, denial-of-service attacks, or attempts to compromise the security of information); (4) with MIT, its subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control with us (in which case we will require such entities to honor this Privacy Policy); and (5) if we are acquired by or merged with another entity.

How We Safeguard Your Personal Information

  1. Security Measures. MIT Enterprise Forum takes appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction of Personal Information. These include, but are not limited to, internal reviews of: (a) MIT Enterprise Forum's data collection; (b) storage and processing practices; (c) electronic security measures; and (d) physical security measures to guard against unauthorized access to systems where MIT Enterprise Forum stores Personal Information. All MIT Enterprise Forum employees, contractors, and agents who access Personal Information are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, for unauthorized use or disclosure of Personal Information.

  2. Third-Party Links. The MIT Enterprise Forum Network may contain links to third parties who may collect Personal Information and Non-Personal Information directly from you. Additionally, MIT Enterprise Forum may use third parties to provide components of the MIT Enterprise Forum Network. In either case, such third parties may have separate privacy policies and data collection practices, independent of MIT Enterprise Forum. MIT Enterprise Forum: (a) has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies or actions; (b) is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites; and (c) does not make any warranties or representations about the contents, products, or services offered on such websites or the security of any information you provide to them.

MIT Enterprise Forum continually strives to implement new technologies and processes to better protect you, your privacy, and your use of the MIT Enterprise Forum Network. As a result, changes to this Privacy Policy may be made by MIT Enterprise Forum from time to time. In no event will these changes result in the degradation of any of the security measures designed to protect you from unauthorized disclosure, as such measures are described in this Privacy Policy.

Children's Privacy

We are committed to protecting the privacy needs of children, and we encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children's online activities and interests. The Services are not intended for and may not be used by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13, and we do not market the Services to children under the age of 13.

Links to Other Services and Websites

This Privacy Policy applies only to the MIT Enterprise Forum Services. These Services may contain links to other services and websites not operated or controlled by MIT Enterprise Forum (the "Third-Party Services"). This may include other websites operated by employees of MIT. The policies and procedures we describe here do not apply to the Third-Party Services. The links from this Service do not imply that MIT Enterprise Forum endorses or has reviewed the Third-Party Services. We suggest contacting those sites directly for information on their privacy policies.

Changes to MIT Enterprise Forum's Privacy Policy

Our Services and our business may change from time to time. As a result, at times it may be necessary for MIT Enterprise Forum to make changes to this Privacy Policy. MIT Enterprise Forum reserves the right to update or modify this Privacy Policy at any time and from time to time without prior notice. Please review this policy periodically, and especially before you provide additional Personal Information. This Privacy Policy was last updated on the date indicated below. Your continued use of the Service after any changes or revisions to this Privacy Policy shall indicate your agreement with the terms of the revised Privacy Policy.

Jurisdiction and Cross-Border Issues

We do not represent or warrant that the Services, or any part thereof, are appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction. Those who choose to access the Services do so on their own initiative and at their own risk, and are responsible for complying with all local laws, rules, and regulations. We may limit the Services' availability, in whole or in part, to any person, geographic area, or jurisdiction we choose, at any time and at our sole discretion. By using the Services and submitting any Personal Information, you consent to the transfer of Personal Information to other countries, such as the United States, which may provide a different level of data security from your country of residence.

Special Note for Our International Visitors

Our Services are intended for and directed to users in the United States. If you are accessing our Services from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure that differ from United States laws, please be advised that through your continued use of our Services, which are governed by U.S. law and this Privacy Notice, you are transferring your Personal Information to the United States and you consent to that transfer.

How to Access and Change Your Personal Information

To keep your Personal Information accurate, current, and complete, please contact us as specified below. We will take reasonable steps to update or correct Personal Information in our possession that you have previously submitted via this Service. Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions about MIT Enterprise Forum's Privacy Policy or the information practices of the Services.

You may contact us as follows:
MIT Enterprise Forum
One Main St., 13th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
privacy@mitef.org
T: 617.475.8113

Last updated: October 17, 2014