AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION (ASA)

Privacy Policy

American Studies Association (“ASA”, “we” or “us”) is concerned about your privacy and the confidentiality of information shared with us, including through our website (the “Site”).  Because we want visitors to the Site to know how we collect, use, share, and protect information we collect, we have developed this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”).

This applies to activities of ASA and to persons visiting the Site, signing up for ASA publications and mailings, or entering into transactions with the ASA, and covers the collection, use, storage and disclosure of information and data as described in this Privacy Policy.  By accessing or using the Site and/or providing any personal information to us, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not accept these practices, you must not access or use the Site or provide us with your personal information.  We may change or add to this privacy policy, so we encourage you to review it periodically.

Consent to transfer personal information to the United States

If you reside outside of the United States, your personal information will be transferred to the U.S. and processed and stored in the U.S.  By accessing or using the Site, or providing any personal information to us, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy and consent to the transfer, processing, and storage of your personal information in the U.S.

What information does the Site collect and how is the information used?

Personal information is data that can be used to identify or contact an individual. You do not have to provide any personal information to read the content of our Site.  However, you will provide personal information when submitting a donation, signing up to attend an event, registering for an event, applying to become a member and/or subscribes to the ASA journals, creating an ASA account, purchasing merchandise, or contacting us for more information.  Some examples of personal information we collect include:  your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number.  When you make a donation or sign up for an event, we ask for your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, and credit card information (i.e., card type, number, security code and expiration date).  Credit card payment processing is handled by a third party (Johns Hopkins University Press “JHUP”) and is subject to the third party’s privacy policy. JHUP processes all membership applications, journal subscriptions, and credit card payments related to both. ASA does not store credit card data provided to the third party for credit card payment processing.  The purchase of ASA materials is also processed through a third party website and is subject to the third party’s privacy policy.

We use your personal information for our internal operations such as to process your donation or payments, provide our programs and services, and/or to respond to your request for information.  We may also use the information to contact you if there is a problem with your donation, for feedback on our services, and/or to contact you for marketing purposes.  For example, you may receive periodic e-mails, direct mailings or telephone calls from us with information on our upcoming events.  If you do not wish to receive such mailings or calls, please let us know by sending an e-mail to the address below or click “unsubscribe” as instructed in any email from us.

Do we collect information from children under age 13? 

Our website is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under the age of 13.  We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13, and require any information regarding children under 13 to be provided by parents. Please contact us at asamedia@theasa.net if you suspect that we have collected information from children under the age of 13.   If we learn that we have collected the personal information of a child under 13 without verifiable parental consent, we will take steps to delete the information as quickly as possible.

Does the Site use cookies or tracking technology?

ASA’s website uses cookies and other technologies for the purposes explained below. We treat information collected by cookies and other technologies as non-personal information.  However, to the extent that Internet Protocol (IP) addresses or similar identifiers are considered personal information by local law, we also treat these identifiers as personal information.  Similarly, to the extent that non-personal information is combined with personal information, we treat the combined information as personal information for the purposes of this Privacy Policy.

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information that are placed on your device’s browser that are used to help the Site recognize your browser in the future and to track your interaction with the Site.  Cookies are stored on your device or in local storage.  Cookies are useful because they make using the Internet easier by, among other things, saving your passwords and preferences for you.  Some cookies (“session” cookies) expire and are automatically deleted when you close your browser, while others (“persistent” cookies) do not expire and are not automatically deleted.  We may use cookies for purposes, including but not limited to, delivering content specific to your interests, tracking and analyzing Site usage and browsing activity, making your visit to the Site easier by recognizing you when you return, and other purposes as determined by ASA.  You can enable your browser to refuse cookies, but certain features of the Site may not work as intended or may be slowed if you decline to accept cookies.  For information on configuring your browser to decline cookies, check your browser’s “help” feature.

We may also use web beacons, clear gif technology, action tags or other technologies to collect aggregate Site visitation data by tracking how users navigate to and through the Site.  We may also use this technology to track the delivery of HTML email messages.  Web beacons cannot be declined when delivered using a regular web page, but they can be refused when delivered by email.  If you do not wish to receive web beacons by email, you will need to disable HTML images or select text only for emails received with your email software.

We may also track activity on our Site using log files stored on our servers, and collect information, including IP addresses, browser types and versions, geographic information, pages viewed and devices used to interact with the Site.  We may use this information to personalize your experience and to administer our Site.

Some web browsers may transmit “do not track” signals to the websites with which the browser communicates.   There is no standard that governs what, if anything, websites should do when they receive these signals. We do not currently take action in response to these signals.  We may revise this policy if and when a standard for responding to these signals is established.

We may monitor email correspondence and telephone calls to track reported problems and to ensure quality assurance. Similarly, we monitor web traffic in the aggregate for the purposes of evaluating marketing campaigns and content improvement.

We may use a web analytics service, such as Google Analytics, to record and analyze your activity on this Site.  The Site or any such service may track your browsing across web sites that use the same service and may collect demographic data, including the type of computer or operating system, location of user (e.g., city, state, country) and gender. 

Our Site may include social media features such as the Facebook “like” button, widgets or interactive mini-programs that run on our Site.  These features may collect your IP address, browsing information and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly.  Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the party providing it.

To whom do we disclose information?

Except as provided in this Policy, we will not knowingly sell, share, or rent your personal information to any third parties without your permission.  The information that we collect is generally used for internal purposes such as fulfilling your requests for information, processing your transactions, verifying membership status, compiling usage statistics regarding the Site, and analyzing visitor preferences regarding our services and events.  ASA may share information, including personal information with its employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations, such as Chapters, for the purpose of carrying out general ASA business operations.  For example, we use third party services to assist us in securely processing your credit card orders or donations and may share information with Chapters or third party service providers for the purpose of verifying ASA membership.  We may also share personal information and non-personally identifiable information with third parties, including Chapters of ASA, that help manage and maintain our website and databases and with third parties who assist us with event registration, direct mailing, email communications, and other business operations.  We strive to ensure that any such parties will provide at least the same level of protection as this Privacy Policy offersHowever, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties and do not guarantee that these third parties have similar privacy practices. 

We will divulge personal information to courts, law enforcement and other governmental agencies and third parties when required to do so or when we in good faith believe it is necessary in order to comply with legal obligations or fulfill a responsibility.

In the event that this Site or substantially all of our assets are acquired, merged or reorganized, user information may be transferred to another party. 

ASA shares lists containing the names and mailing addresses of members with third party sponsors for the purpose of providing exclusive promotional offers.  You may request that ASA not provide your information to third parties for their marketing purposes by sending a written request to the mailing address below or asamedia@theasa.net.

What are the privacy policies of linked sites and other third parties?

The ASA Site uses third parties to process credit card payments and merchandise sales, and the ASA Site also contains links to other sites. This Privacy Policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. Although you may link to other sites or third parties via the Site, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties or the content of linked sites that are not programs of ASA. We encourage our website visitors to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy policies of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. 

Who may see the information I post to various areas of the ASA site?

You also may provide information to be published or displayed on the public areas of the ASA website, or transmitted to other users of the website or third parties (collectively, “User Contributions”).  You are solely responsible for your communications and consequences for posting those communications.  You provide User Contributions and transmit them to others at your own risk. We cannot control the actions of other users of the website with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions.  Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons. ASA does not warrant the information transmitted through User Contributions.   

How can you access or correct your information?

You may view, correct, or update the personal information we have about you by sending a request to the mailing address or the e-mail address listed below.  Individuals with an ASA account may correct or update the personal information within the ASA system by logging into their account. Others who may want to correct or update their personal information may do so by contacting us by email, mail or phone using the contact information below.  If we use any of your personal information in a manner that you believe is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy, please contact us so that we may correct such inconsistency. The Journals Publishing Division of the Johns Hopkins University Press is responsible for membership and subscription fulfillment. If you have any questions or problems regarding Membership please contact JHUP Customer Service directly at toll free (US and Canada only) at 800-548-1784 or email ASASupport@jh.edu.

How may this privacy statement be amended?

From time to time, we may make changes to our information practices or alter the functionality of the Site.  If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post a notice of those changes on our home page so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.   When we make updates, we will change the “last updated” date below. We encourage you to periodically review this page and the Site’s home page for the latest information on our privacy practices for this Site.

What security measures does the Site employ?

The security of your personal information is important to us.  We employ various security measures to protect against the loss of information that the Site collects. However, you should keep in mind that this Site is run on software, hardware and networks, any component of which may, from time to time, require maintenance or experience problems or breaches of security.  No method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% percent secure and we cannot guarantee absolute security.  You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your username and password and are responsible for any unauthorized use.

Your California Privacy Rights:

In addition to the rights as explained in this Privacy Policy, under California’s "Shine the Light" law, California residents who provide personal information (as defined in the statute) in obtaining products or services for personal, family, or household use are entitled to request and obtain from us, once a calendar year, information about the personal information we shared, if any, with other businesses for marketing uses. If applicable, this information would include the categories of personal information and the names and addresses of those businesses with which we shared such personal information for the immediately prior calendar year (e.g., requests made in 2012 will receive information about 2011). To obtain this information, or to opt-out of having your personal information shared with third parties for direct marketing purposes, please write to us at: American Studies Association, 1120 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Attn: ASA List -- California Privacy Law. Please include your full name and address and ASA Member Number, if applicable.

Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL):

The ASA complies with CASL. Non-ASA Members or Associates who have provided us a Canadian mailing address will not receive unauthorized Commercial Electronic Messages (CEMs as defined under CASL) unless these individuals have opted-in to receive CEMs.

How can you contact us?

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this Site, or your dealings with this Site, you can contact us by mail, e-mail or phone at:  

Mailing address:   American Studies Association
                             1120 19th Street NW
                             Washington DC 20036

E-mail address:    asamedia@theasa.net

Telephone:            (202) 467-4783

Last Updated:       December 14, 2016