Any reference to “We,” “Us,” and “Our” is to SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics (and each of its subsidiaries), as an organization.
Any reference to "Our websites" is to websites available within SPIE.org, SPIEDigitalLibrary.org, SPIECareerCenter.org, www.photonicsprismaward.com, and optics.org.
Any reference to "You" and "Your" is to you as an individual user of our products, websites, and applications.
This policy does not apply to websites of any SPIE member, affiliate, section, division, or chapter that SPIE does not own or control. It does not apply to websites operated by organizations or groups who associate themselves in any way with SPIE. It does not apply to any other Internet websites including those that have hypertext links to https://spie.org.
Security of information and personal data
SPIE is committed to protecting the security of your personal data. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. For example, we store the personal data you provide on computer systems that have limited access and are in controlled facilities. When we transmit highly confidential data (such as a credit card number or password) over the Internet, we protect it through the use of encryption.
Our websites have security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. We have taken the necessary steps to provide a secure server for transmission of sensitive data to and from our websites. We encrypt all payment data including your credit card number transmitted through our secure web server so no one else can read it.
Our retention of personal data
SPIE retains personal data for as long as necessary to provide the services and fulfill the transactions you have requested, to provide relevant services, or for other essential purposes such as complying with all federal, state, and local legal obligations, resolving disputes, and enforcing our agreements. Because these needs can vary for different data types in the context of different products, actual retention periods can vary significantly.
Credit card information: We collect your credit card information, such as credit card number and expiration date, when you purchase products on our websites. We accept responsibility for the secure processing and transmission of your credit card data. We do not store your credit card information any longer than necessary to complete transactions.
Personal data we collect
SPIE collects data to operate effectively and provide you the best experiences with our products and services. You provide some of this data directly, such as when you create a SPIE.org account, register to attend an SPIE event, or purchase a Digital Library subscription. Some information is gained indirectly through the use of technologies such as cookies and log files used for website operations.
We also obtain data from third parties. We protect data obtained from third parties according to the practices described in this statement, plus any additional restrictions imposed by the source of the data. These third-party sources vary over time, but have included:
You have choices about the data we collect. When you are asked to provide personal data, you may decline; however, if you choose not to provide data that is necessary to provide a product or feature, you may not be able to use that service, product, or feature.
The data we collect depends on the context of your interactions with SPIE; the choices you make, including your privacy settings; and the products and features you use. The data we collect can include the following.
Name and contact data. We collect your first and last/family name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar contact data.
Credentials. We collect passwords, password hints, and similar security information used for authentication and account access.
Demographic data. We collect data about you such as your educational background, age, gender, country, and preferred language.
Payment data. We collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number (e.g., a credit card number), and the security code associated with your payment instrument. We do not store any credit card information longer than necessary to process your transaction.
Device and usage data. We collect data about your device and how you and your device interact with SPIE and our products. This data helps us to diagnose problems in the products you use and to improve our products and provide solutions. For example, we collect the following:
We also collect information you provide to us and the content of messages you send to us, such as feedback and product reviews you write, or questions and information you provide for customer support. When you contact us, such as for customer support, phone conversations or chat sessions with our representatives may be monitored and recorded.
How we use your personal data
SPIE uses the data we collect for three basic purposes to fulfill SPIE’s purpose and mission (including improving and personalizing) the products and services we offer: (1) to send marketing communications; (2) to show advertising, whether for our own products or for products offered by third parties; and (3) to perform marketing profiling of our members and constituents.
Communications. We use data we collect to communicate with you and to personalize our communications with you. For example, we may contact you by phone or email or other means to inform you when a subscription is ending, inform you about an upcoming SPIE event, remind you about items left in your online shopping cart, invite you to participate in a survey, or tell you that you need to take action to keep your account active.
Advertising. We use data we collect through our interactions with you, through our conferences, publications, services and third-party web properties, to show relevant advertising. The ads that you see may be selected on the basis of data we process about you, such as your interests and favorites, your location, your transactions, how you use our products, your search queries, or the content you view.
Profiles. SPIE.org Profiles is a feature that allows you to publicly display relevant professional information about yourself on the SPIE.org website. You have the ability to manage what information is displayed in your profile via the SPIE.org Profile tab in My Account (sign-in required). You may view, update, add, or remove any information forming a part of your SPIE.org Profile at any time, and you may turn off your profile at any time.
Your SPIE profile contains information that you have provided for publication, publicly available information about your SPIE involvement, and other professional information that you choose to include in your profile. In addition, you may choose to allow others who are logged in to their SPIE accounts view your contact information (mailing addresses, phone, fax) and to send you email by opting into SPIE's communications. SPIE reserves the right to remove information from a profile that is deemed inappropriate.
Marketing Profiling. We aggregate the information about you to profile the different communities of SPIE, including but not limited to: overall engagement with SPIE, career stage patterns, areas of technical interest, and differentiation of needs and preferences.
Reasons we share personal data
We share your personal data with your consent or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any product or service you have requested or authorized. We also share data with SPIE-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries, with vendors working on our behalf, when required by law or to respond to legal process, to protect our customers, to protect lives, to maintain the security of our products, and to protect the rights or property of SPIE.
E-mail addresses are never released to third parties without your express consent, as a matter of SPIE policy.
How to access and control your personal data
You can view, edit, or delete your personal data online for many SPIE products by signing in to your SPIE account. You can also make choices about SPIE’s collection of and use of your data. How you access or control your personal data will depend on which products you use.
You can always choose whether you wish to receive promotional email, telephone calls, and postal mail from SPIE by updating your preferences in your SPIE.org account or by contacting SPIE Customer Service.
If you wish to delete certain personal data collected by SPIE, you can always contact SPIE at customerservice@spie.org. We will respond to requests to access or delete your personal data within one month.
Cookies and similar technologies
SPIE uses cookies (small text files placed on your device) and similar technologies to improve our websites and online services. Cookies allow us, among other things, to store your preferences and settings; enable you to sign in; provide interest-based advertising; combat fraud; and analyze how our websites and online services are performing.
You have a variety of tools to control cookies and similar technologies, including browser controls to block and delete cookies and controls from some third-party analytics service providers to opt out of data collection through web beacons and similar technologies. Your browser and other choices may impact your experiences with our products.
Subject access rights
You will have the right to be provided with a copy of all personal information we hold about you. To request this information, you must submit a written request to customerservice@spie.org.
Data portability
You can request that your personal data is transferred directly to another “data controller” at any time. To request this information, you must submit a written request to customerservice@spie.org.
Right to request a correction
You can request that we correct or update your personal data at any time to ensure that your information is accurate and up to date. To request corrections, you must submit a written request to customerservice@spie.org or log in to your SPIE account.
Right to be forgotten
We may be required to archive your personal information; however, we will not retain personal data for longer than is necessary for the purpose we obtained it. You have the right to request that we delete your personal information in certain circumstances, i.e., where the purpose for collecting your personal information no longer exists and we are not obligated by legal reasons to retain all or any part of your personal information.
Suppression lists
We will not contact you about our related products or services or send you any other communications if you have indicated that you do not want to receive these communications. In this case, your name will be included in appropriate suppression lists.
Withdrawing your consent
You can withdraw your consent to receive marketing email or postal mail at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of email sent by SPIE, contacting us at customerservice@spie.org, or selecting your communication preferences in your SPIE account.
Our right to change this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically and without prior notice to you to reflect changes in our online information practices. We will indicate at the top of the statement when it was most recently updated. We recommend that you visit our Privacy Policy page whenever you visit our websites so that you are aware of any changes.
Contact SPIE
If you have any concerns, comments, or questions about this privacy policy, please contact SPIE.
SPIE
PO Box 10
Bellingham WA 98227-0010 USA
customerservice@spie.org
Telephone: +1 888 504 8171 (within USA only) or +1 360 676 3290
Fax: +1 360 647 1445