Privacy Policy

Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society Privacy Policy

Adopted by the IRES Executive Committee on April 3, 2007 and revised on July 1, 2015

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 contact 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 content restricted to members, board members, or user account holders, visitors are not required to be IRES members to gain access to the IRES website. Your user account will automatically give you access to restricted content based on the current status of your IRES membership or board membership. The user ID and password of your user account will serve only as a means of authenticating your identity to IRES’s website and is required in order to access specific content restricted to members, board members, or user account holders. Contact the IRES office for assistance with your user account, IDs, or password.

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 user account creation, 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 online contact or submission form 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 publishes a list of names and affiliations of the participants of IRES-sponsored events on the event’s information page on the IRES website. 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 content restricted to members, board, members, or user account holders, 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, whenever someone visits the IRES website, a “cookie” is deployed. A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive so that the website “remembers” information about you during movement from one page to another (such as your login authentication) and/or when you return to the website in the future. The IRES website may use session cookies (which terminate and are erased once you close your browser or log out) as well as persistent cookies (which are stored on your hard drive so that, when you end your browsing session and return to this website later, the cookie information is still available).

Cookies are harmless to your system and intended to enhance your web browsing experience. You may change your browser settings to show you when a cookie is being sent or refuse all cookies. If you choose to refuse cookies, you will be unable to use your IRES website user account, which gives you access to members-only content and other features. In addition, your overall experience on IRES’ and other websites may be diminished, and some features may not work as intended.

IRES publishes an online directory of members that includes select information about individual members as provided by members through various member engagement points (such as membership application and renewal forms, event registration forms, and contact information update forms). Members may control what information is published in the member directory, including the option of being unlisted, 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 online. 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 may verify and/or correct their contact record information through their user accounts or by contacting the IRES office.

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 control communication and member directory preference settings through their user accounts. The Information & Settings area allows members customize the members profile communication options. The Member Directory Settings area allows members to control what information is or is not published in the member directory and allows members to opt in or out of receiving certain types of IRES communications, and/or mailing list exchanges with third parties. Members may contact the IRES office with questions or for assistance.

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.

Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society Website Content Disclaimer

The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society and, while we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.

Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.

This website is best viewed using Internet Explorer 9 or later, or the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Opera. If you are using earlier versions of these browsers (especially Internet Explorer 8 or earlier), consider upgrading to a newer version for a better IRES website experience.