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What are SIMA's privacy policies for personal information?

Overview of SIMA privacy policies, including what info we collect, third party applications we use, and how we use that info.

Personal Information
Any information collected is used for the purposes stated at the time of collection or as otherwise setout in this privacy statement. Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA) collects and uses your information only for the following purposes:

  • To respond to your request for information, services, events, and the organization.
  • To create memberships, event registrations, online course registrations, store purchases,
    and document downloads (prompted by you).
  • To provide you with a subscription to eNewsletters/email blasts and/or Print publications
    (opt-in).
  • To meet legal, regulatory, and 3rd party audit requirements.
  • Some areas of the array of software platforms we use may require use of a username and
    password for access. This username and password allows you to access certain areas and
    conduct business with SIMA.
  • We work with software providers utilizing a Single Sign On methodology. Email addresses
    are solely passed between software systems for login credentialing and account access, andnot sold or shared to any other parties in this situation. which uses email address as a
    unique identifier to provide you with services. We work with the following providers where
    data is stored or shared to some degree:
    • SIMA
    • Higher Logic
    • Community Brands
    • Progress (Sifefinity CMS provider)
    • Hubspot (CSM/CRM)
    • American Eagle (Web Developer)
    • Google
    • SmartSheets

Information We Collect

Personal Information
Users may be asked for, as appropriate:

  • first name, last name;
  • password;
  • email address;
  • work address;
  • phone numbers;
  • job title
  • gender
  • Birthdate
  • job role
  • company type
  • company name
  • company size in revenue and employees
  • company services and/or products sold
  • professional interests
  • and other related business/professional information.

Users may, however, visit our Sites anonymously. We will collect personal identification information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us. Users can always refuse to supply personally identification information, except that it may prevent them from engaging in certain Sites related activities.

Non-personal Information
We may collect non-personal identification information about Users whenever they interact with
our Sites. Non-personal identification information may include the browser name, the type of
computer and technical information about Users means of connection to our Sites, such as the
operating system and the Internet service providers utilized and other similar information.

Web Browser Cookies
SIMA and our technology partners may use a technology called ‘cookies’ to record or track information related to visitors to our public website. Cookies are simple text files that web browsers place on computer hard drives when sites are visited. We may use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests or to aid in signing into accounts for customer convenience. Cookies, by themselves, do not tell SIMA your e-mail address or other personally identifiable information, unless you choose to provide this information when asking for further information from us. However, once you choose to furnish the site with personally identifiable information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie.

How We Collect Information
We may collect personal information from Users in a variety of ways, including when Users:

  • visit our site:
  • register on the site/create an account
  • subscribe to the newsletter or print publication
  • respond to a survey
  • fill out a form; and
  • in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on our
    Sites.
How We Use Collected Information
SIMA collects and uses Users personal information for the following purposes:
  • To personalize user experience;
We may use information in the aggregate to understand how our Users as a group use the
services and resources provided on our Sites;
  • To improve our Sites;
  • We continually strive to improve our website offerings based on the information we receive;
  • To improve customer service;
  • Your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests/support needs.
  • To share your information with third parties;
  • We may share or sell information with third parties for marketing or other purposes; we do not share or sell email addresses in aggregate;
  • To administer a content, promotion, survey or other Sites features;
  • To send Users information they agreed to receive about topics we think will be of interest to them;
  • To send periodic emails;

If User decides to opt-in to our mailing list, they will receive emails that may include
company news, updates, related product or service information, including product
information from 3rd parties etc. If at any time the User would like to unsubscribe from
receiving future emails, we include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each
email or User may contact us via our Sites.


How We Protect Your Information
We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to
protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal
information, username, password, transaction information and data stored on our Sites.
Sensitive and private data exchange between the Sites and its Users happens over an SSL secured communication channel and is encrypted and protected with digital signatures.

Sharing your personal information
As noted above, we may share your personal data with our advertisers, vendors, and customers,
including data profiling companies, business-to-business lead buyers, and data aggregation
companies that track user behavior. We also may share your personal data with third party service providers to help us with our business activities such as email marketing, offering customer service, or operating a community forum. We require assurances from these companies to ensure that they: (i) use your personal data only as permitted by applicable law; and (ii) treat your data consistent with our Privacy Policy.

Retention Period
On behalf of our customers using our software platform, we retain personal data for the period
necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is
required or permitted by law. Please note that we have a variety of obligations to retain the data
that you provide to us, including to ensure that transactions can be appropriately processed and
rules that apply to us and to our financial service providers. Accordingly, we will retain certain data to meet our obligations.

Third party websites
Users may find advertising or other content on our Sites that link to the sites and services of our
partners, suppliers, advertisers, sponsors, licensors and other third parties. We do not control the
content or links that appear on these sites and are not responsible for the practices employed by
websites linked to or from our Sites. In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies. Browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites which have a link to our Sites, is subject to that website’s own terms and policies.

Advertising
Ads appearing on our site may be delivered to Users by advertising partners, who may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement to compile non-personal identification information about you or others who use your computer. This information allows ad networks to, among other things, deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This privacy policy does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers on their sites.

Use of Services by Minors
The services on the SIMA website are not directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18), and we request that they not provide personal data through the Services.

Your Rights
Privacy
You have the right to be provided with information as to the nature of the personal information
stored or processed about you by SIMA and may request deletion or amendments. Such requests may result in a non-deliverability or inability to deliver on certain services and products.

You may email info@sima.org to review, update, and revise your personal information.

Payment Processors
We use third parties to process payments made through our Sites for the services that we may
make available to you. If you choose to make a purchase through our website or such services,
please note that we will direct you to a third party for the processing of such payments.

Transfer of Data
SIMA shares information with vendors that are based outside the European Economic Area (EEA). We ensure personal data is protected by using vendors in the US that have certified to EU-US Privacy Shield, an approved set of privacy standards specifically designed for data sent to the US from the EEA.