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Updated July 15, 2009
The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is committed to protecting your online privacy. We feel it is important for you to know how we handle information we receive from you via the internet. In general, you can visit www.thyroid.org without revealing any personal information. However, you are required to provide personal information to gain access to some of our content and services, as explained below.
Information Collected and Stored Automatically
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the website, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:
- The Internet domain (for example, "abccompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain) and IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access our website;
- The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
- The date and time you access our site;
- The pages you visit
We use this information to help us make our site more useful to visitors -- to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We do not track or record information about individuals and their visits.
How we use 'cookies'
As you probably know, "cookies" are small pieces of information that some web sites store on your computer's hard drive when you visit them. Like many other web sites, thyroid.org uses cookies to provide us with information relating to the sources of our site traffic. Collecting this information, however, does not allow us to personally identify you.
Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies but allow you to modify security settings so that you can approve or reject cookies on a case-by-case basis. Our site requires that both cookies and JavaScript be enabled. If you reject cookies from our site, some parts of the site may not work properly for you. Cookies allow us to keep track of, login information, and site traffic patterns and usage. Some features of the site such as the “font-sizer” use cookies in order to remember your font setting preferences.
Email Messages Sent to the American Thyroid Association (ATA)
When inquiries are sent to the American Thyroid Association (ATA) by email, the question(s) and the email address of the sender are stored electronically to allow time for a response to be researched, written, and sent. Unless otherwise required by law, the American Thyroid Association (ATA) will not identify anyone who sends questions or comments to its web site. The ATA does not collect information that will allow users to be identified personally, unless they choose to provide such information.
Send to a Friend
When using the "Send to a Friend" feature, the American Thyroid Association (ATA) emails the link to the article you choose to your friend's email address. Your friend's email address is used only for the purpose of sending the article you requested and for no other purpose.
Friends of the ATA e-news
Thyroid.org provides you with the opportunity to receive ATA (American Thyroid Association) communications by signing up for a free Friends of the ATA e-news. We will use your email address to send you Friends of the ATA e-news and occasional email updates. The information we gather from subscribers to our e-news lists (including e-mail addresses) is not shared with other organizations or companies.
All e-mail messages sent to Friends of the ATA e-news subscribers contain a link to unsubscribe or to modify your profile. You may subscribe or unsubscribe to any e-news or e-mail communication from the ATA at any time.
Online Subscribers to Clinical Thyroidology
If you wish to be notified by email when a new issue of Clinical Thyroidology is posted online you may subscribe to an ATA Email Notification list. The information we gather from subscribers to this list is not shared with other organizations or companies.
All email notifications sent to Clinical Thyroidology Online Subcribers will contain a link to delete yourself from the list if you no longer wish to receive email notices.
Surveys
As a user of the American Thyroid Association website, you may be asked to complete surveys from time to time. We use information from surveys to create reports on thyroid related issues, ways to improve member services, or on ways to improve our web site. It is not mandatory for you to answer these questions, your participation is voluntary. If you decide to answer these questions, your individual answers will remain confidential. We will only use the survey information in the aggregate to study statistical results.
Members of the American Thyroid Association who are registered to our site
The personal information you provide in your membership application will be used to create a personal profile, which allows us to give you customized information. This includes your member home page, personal email newsletters, and some interactive tools which require you to log on. If you choose to be included in the directory of ATA members your personal information such as your business address, phone number, fax number, and email address will be made available to other ATA members.
If you choose to be listed in the Find a Thyroid Specialist feature of our website your Name, Business Address, and Business phone number will be available to the public.
The email addresses that may be collected during this process are collected and used by this site only for distribution of email newsletters and password identification and recovery during registration/login. Your email will never be shared with other organizations or the public, without your explicit authorization.
Links to Other Web Sites from the ATA Web Site
The American Thyroid Association has provided links to various sites that we believe provide valuable information to you. However, we are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or actions of such web sites. If you have any concerns, you are urged to review the terms of those sites for more information about the policies applicable to those sites.
How to contact us
Email thyroid@thyroid.org with any questions about the above privacy policy and the security measures in place to protect your privacy. Any corrections to personal information you have submitted through our site can be sent by email to thyroid@thyroid.org
Changes to our Privacy policy
By using the American Thyroid Association web site and the services available to you on our site, you consent to the collection and use of your information as described above. If we change our privacy policy, we will immediately post the changes on this page so that you are always aware of our policies.
