Website Privacy Policy

This document discloses the privacy practices for www.padental.org, a website owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Dental Association (“Our Site”). As part of the normal operation of our services we collect and, in some cases, disclose information about you. This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect about you and what may happen to that information. By accepting the User Agreement, you expressly consent to our use and disclosure of your personally identifiable information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and subject to the terms of our Website Terms and Conditions. 


Minors

If you are a minor, you can use this service only in conjunction with your parents or guardians. If you are a minor, please do not submit any personal information.


Information We Collect

Your Registration Information. To fully use our membership services, you will need to initially register using our online registration form, where you will be required to provide us with your contact information and certain other personal information, namely, Your Usage of Our Site. We automatically track certain information about you based upon your use of Our Site. We use this information to conduct internal research on our users' demographics, interests, and behavior to better understand and serve our users. This information is compiled and analyzed on an aggregate basis. This information may include the URL that you just came from, which URL you next go to, what browser you are using, and your IP address. 

Cookies. In addition, we use “cookies” on certain pages of our site. Cookies are small files that can be used to track a user's steps or automatically generate a user's password. Some features of our website may only be available through the use of a cookie. Among other things, cookies allow you to enter your password less frequently during a session. Cookies can also help us provide information that is targeted to your interests. Cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our site. You may decline our cookies if your browser permits, although your use of the site may then be restricted (as noted above).

Your Posts. If you choose to post messages in our chat rooms, message boards or newsgroups, we will collect such information about you as you choose to disclose.

Your Correspondence. If you send us emails, letters or other personal correspondence, or if other users or third parties send us correspondence about your activities or postings on the website, we may collect such information in a file specific to you.

Your Credit Account. If you establish a credit account with us, we collect some additional information, including billing address, credit card number and credit card expiration date and tracking information from checks or money orders.


Our Use of Your Registered Information

Promotional Use. For registered members we may use personal information about you to enhance our marketing and promotional efforts, and to improve our content and services. We may also use your information to deliver to you advertise­ments, new services and promotions, and other information to you that is targeted to your interests. You can avoid receiving some of this information by changing your options on your account status page.

Administrative Notices, Etc. For registered members we may use your email address, your mailing address and phone number to contact you regarding administrative notices, new product offerings, and communications relevant to your use of the site. If you do not wish to receive these communications, you may have the ability to opt out on your account status page. 

Billing and Support. If you open a credit account, we use your address and billing information to bill you and provide associated support.

Dispute Resolution. We use information in the file we maintain about you, and other information we obtain from your current and past activities on the Site, to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and enforce our User Agreement.


Our Disclosure to Third Parties

We use practices that are consistent with standards in the industry to protect your privacy. We cannot, however, promise that your personally identifiable information or private communications will remain private. For example, third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications. We do not sell or rent any personally identifi­able information about you to any third party. The following describes some of the ways that your personally identifiable information may be disclosed.

Law Enforcement. We may disclose any information about you to law enforcement or other government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate, in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringements, or other activity that is illegal or may expose us to legal liability.

Advertisers. We disclose aggregate information about our users to advertisers and for other marketing and promotional purposes. However, we do not disclose any personally identifying information to any of these entities.

Our Site. Throughout the Site, registered members are identified by a unique User ID. Unless you log in as a PDA member, our system automatically sets your User ID as your email address. In this situation, where you are identified on the Site by your User ID, you disclose your email address to other users and third parties. As a result, other users and third parties might send you unsolicited email and be able to personally identify all of your activities on the Site. Although our pages are coded with robot exclusion headers, others may attempt to automatically collect your email address from Our Site. Even if your User ID is not your email address, your User ID can be used to identify you and your activities throughout the Site.

Third-Party Suppliers. We may use third-party suppliers to assist us in providing the services available on our website. Whenever a third-party supplier desires to collect information about you, you will be notified of the involvement of the third-party supplier, and you will never be required to disclose any information to the third-party supplier. We impose contractual restrictions on the use by third-party suppliers of information concerning you, and we do not permit third-party suppliers to sell your information to third parties.

Use by You of Information

Use Limited to Site-Related Communications. Because of the nature of the services offered on Our Site, Our Site allows you to access PDA member contact information. You may use such information only for Our Site-related communications and to contact members regarding the provision of dental care. Our Site-related communication expressly excludes unsolicited commercial messages. In all cases, you must give users an opportunity to remove themselves from your database and a chance to review what information you have collected about them. In addition, under no circumstances can you disclose personally identifiable information about another user to any third party without our consent and the consent of such other user after adequate disclosure. Note that law enforcement personnel and other rights holders are given different rights with respect to information they access.

No Spam. Our Site and our users do not tolerate spam. Therefore, without limiting the foregoing, you are not licensed to add an Our Site user to your mail list (email or physical mail) without their express consent after adequate disclosure.

Protection of Health Data. All members shall refrain from publishing or disseminating any Protected Health Information as that term is defined by the Standards For Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information under the regulations of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, 45 C.F.R. § 160.103.


Disclosures You Make to Third Parties

Our Site does not control the privacy policies of third parties. When you disclose information to third parties on Our Site (or any other website) about yourself, you are subject to the privacy customs and policies of that third party.