Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society Privacy Policy
Adopted by IRES Executive Committee April 3, 2007
Introduction
The Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society (IRES) believes in and is committed to an individual's right to privacy. IRES values the privacy of its members and visitors to its website and assures members and visitors alike that any information collected is used responsibly and in accordance with the following Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy discloses the information gathering and dissemination practices of IRES. If you have any questions regarding IRES's Privacy Policy or feel that your concerns have not been adequately addressed, please e-mail IRES.
Consent
By using IRES's website, you signify your acceptance of our Privacy Policy. If you as a visitor choose to log on as a member, register for events, apply for membership or certification, renew your membership, review your continuing education credits or otherwise submit personally identifiable information, you are consenting to IRES's use of such data in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Scope
This Privacy Policy guides how IRES uses personal information that is collected by IRES or provided to IRES, whether through its website or by other methods such as an application, registration or other means.
Website User ID and Password
With the exception of specific secured pages in the Members' Area of the IRES website, visitors are not required to be IRES members to gain access to the IRES website. If you are a member of IRES, you will receive a website user ID and password directly from IRES in order to access the secured pages in the Members' Area. The website user ID and password will serve only as a means of authenticating your identity to IRES's website and is required in order to use the Members' Area of the website.
Questions about individual user IDs and passwords should be directed to IRES via e-mail or at Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society, 12710 S. Pflumm Road, Suite 200, Olathe, Kansas 66062, Phone: 913-768-4700, Fax: 913-768-4900.
Collection, Use and Disclosure of Information
IRES collects personally identifiable information at various points in time and through various mediums. For example, personally identifiable information is collected at the time of application for membership, membership renewal, application for certification, and/or registration for educational events. IRES also collects personal identifying information at several different points on our website such as when you complete an on-line a survey, apply for membership, register for IRES-sponsored events, or request other services from IRES requiring such information.
IRES is the sole owner of the information it collects. IRES restricts access to personally identifiable information to those employees of the management firm contracted to manage the day-to-day business operations of IRES and to those members of IRES who have volunteered to assist with the management and operation of IRES, including, but not limited to, the Executive Officers of IRES, members of the Board of Directors, IRES State Chairs and chairs of IRES committees and subcommittees.
IRES may use personally identifiable information you have voluntarily provided, on our website or by other means, to notify you electronically or via regular mail service of IRES-sponsored events, various membership benefits or other relevant services offered by IRES. IRES may also use this information to provide you with IRES-sponsored publications including, but not limited to, The Regulator. IRES may share certain personal contact information with third parties solely for the purposes of distribution of this information.
Like most organizations, IRES does provide the participants of educational events sponsored by IRES with a list of attendees and their respective affiliations for the events they attend. IRES may also release your name and contact information to the State Chair of the local State Chapter for the purpose of the State Chapter providing you with information regarding IRES including, but not limited to, State Chapter news and information about upcoming local, regional or national IRES-related events. Individual State Chapters may publish your name in a directory or use your information to mail or e-mail IRES-related information and materials, unless you contact the State Chapter and opt-out of such disclosure. In addition, IRES will confirm your current membership and designation status upon request by a state insurance department.
IRES may occasionally inform members about special deals, educational opportunities, or service offers not sponsored by IRES that IRES believes members will find useful or interesting. At any time you can request that your information not be used for such purposes by opting-out using the means detailed in the Opting-out Of The Release Of Personal Information section of this policy.
IRES does not release members' personally identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes. In addition, IRES does not presently have plans to sell or rent information about our members. However, IRES may use information in the aggregate to create statistics for marketing and promotional purposes and may share this aggregate member data in the promotion of IRES and/or to obtain benefits for our members.
With the exception of specific secured pages, visitors are not required to be IRES members to gain access to IRES's website. Even if you do nothing during your visit other than navigate the IRES website, read pages, or download information, IRES automatically gathers and stores certain information about your visit. In order to ensure that the website is a useful and effective information source, IRES analyzes information that identifies visitors by categories such as the location of visitors (by domain, not by personal e-mail address) and browser types. IRES also measures, in the aggregate, indicators such as numbers of visits, average time spent on the sites, and pages viewed. IRES uses these statistics to improve the content and usability of the website. This information does not personally identify visitors.
However, when a visitor enters a website user ID and password on the IRES website for the purpose of logging into the Members Only Area of the website, a "cookie" is deployed. This cookie is a small text file temporarily stored on the visitor's computer that enables the website to "remember" this authentication information during movement from one page to another, making it unnecessary to log in again on each page. The cookie will expire when the visitor leaves and no personal data is retained. In addition, the cookie will expire if the visitor's session is idle for approximately 60 minutes to help prevent unauthorized individuals from using the visitor's identifying information. If a visitor's Internet browser is set to reject cookies, access will be denied to the Members Only Area of IRES's website.
IRES publishes an on-line membership directory that includes the primary contact information for each member (name, title, employer, affiliation, and e-mail address). Members may choose to be excluded from the on-line membership directory, by the means detailed in the Opting-out Of The Release Of Personal Information section of this policy.
IRES also collects financial information, (i.e., credit card numbers) from you if you pay membership dues, register for IRES's services, or purchase IRES merchandise on-line. As part of any request for service, IRES will be required to process your financial information in order to receive payment. This requires the exchange of your financial information with a third party, such as a financial institution. IRES will not sell, rent, or share any corporate or individual financial data, except as required in order to process an authorized transaction. IRES follows prudent business practices to safeguard financial data when using or disposing of such information.
If IRES plans to use information collected from members or visitors to our website in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, IRES will make every effort to obtain written or e-mail consent from the member or visitor prior to using the information.
Right of Access
IRES is dedicated to providing reasonable access to members and others who want to review their personal information maintained by IRES and to correct any inaccuracies therein. Members and non-members may verify and/or correct their data by e-mailing IRES or by writing to the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society at 12710 S. Pflumm Rd, Suite 200, Olathe, Kansas 66062 or fax at 913-768-4900.
Security
IRES has reasonable policies and procedures in place to protect from misuse the personally identifiable information provided by its members and visitors to the website.
Hyperlinks
The IRES website contains hyperlinks to other sites. IRES is not responsible for the privacy policies of those sites to which IRES provides hyperlinks. IRES does not control, and is not responsible for, the accuracy, timeliness, security, or the availability or existence of this outside information.
Opinions expressed on other sites linked from IRES's website are not necessarily those of IRES. IRES does not endorse, warrant, or guarantee products or services described or offered on those other sites. IRES is not responsible for the content of any website that chooses to link to IRES's website with or without the consent of IRES.
Other organizations linked to IRES's website may collect information about you when you view or click on these sites. IRES cannot control the information these sites collect. You should contact these organizations directly if you have any questions about what information they may collect and how they make use of it.
Opting-Out of the Release of Personal Information
IRES members may choose to be excluded from 1) receiving information about non-IRES sponsored events, 2) the on-line membership directory, and/or 3) receiving a hard copy of The Regulator. Written requests may be e-mailed, faxed to 913-768-4900 or sent via regular mail to the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society at 12710 S. Pflumm Rd, Suite 200, Olathe, Kansas 66062.
However, if you choose to provide IRES with personally identifiable information by becoming a member, registering for an event, paying renewal dues, or requesting other services, IRES may use that information to provide you with services, for billing purposes, to send immediately relevant information to you, to respond to you, and for other purposes related to the reason you provided the information even if you exercise any or all of the above opt-out options.
Changes to Privacy Policy
IRES reserves the right to change, modify, add, remove, or amend this Privacy Policy at any time for any reason. Nothing contained herein is intended to create a contract or agreement between IRES and any other party.
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