FOA Privacy Policy
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FOA Privacy Policy |
FOA Privacy Policy
The Fiber Optic Association Inc. (also referred to as “FOA,” “us,”
“our,” or "we") has this privacy policy to demonstrate our protection of
your privacy and personal information. The following discloses our
information gathering and dissemination practices. Unless the context
indicates otherwise, the terms “you” and “your” refer to both you
individually and any entity on whose behalf you are accessing our
website.
This privacy policy applies to information we collect:
On this and other FOA websites (e.g. foa.org, thefoa.org, fiberu.org,
foaguide.org);
In email, text, other electronic messages or by telephone or other
communications with us
Data you are required to provide when applying for or renewing FOA
certifications
Data you are required to provide when applying for or renewing FOA
corporate membership
Data you are required to provide when applying for online testing
provided by a third-party for Fiber U Certificate of Completion or FOA
Certification exams
If you have
questions or concerns regarding this policy, we welcome you to contact
us at: info@foa.org
1. Acknowledgement of this Privacy Statement
Your use of any of our websites and email or other communications
signifies that you have read and understand all of the terms of this
privacy policy.
2. Personal Information You Provide Voluntarily
We collect personal information from those applying for FOA
certification or renewing certifications that include, but is not
limited to, name, telephone number, email address, employer,
professional title, home or business and mailing address, details
regarding your entity and business, your job title, company contacts for
corporate members, photographs, and education.
The personal information you are asked to provide (including whether its
provision is mandatory or not) is needed so that we may facilitate your
access, purchase, use and/or participation in our service offerings,
such as:
Certificates of completion for Fiber U educational programs
Online forums
Certification/accreditation activities including online testing
Products (e.g. textbooks) for sale
Any other services and products that are updates or extensions to our
services or relate to other benefits
If you choose not
to provide us with your personal information, you may not be able to
participate in certain of our programs
Additionally, we will also collect personal information when:
You request us to contact you via mail, e-mail, or telephone to provide
information, updates, or promotions about our services
We enter into agreements for affiliated partnerships (e.g. approved
schools, affiliate training organizations, corporate members)
We will provide you with the choice and means for limiting the use and
disclosure of your personal information before we use or disclose the
information for a purpose that is materially different than the purpose
described below
At other times, we may collect information that cannot be used to
identify you. For example, we may aggregate non-personal
information about you and other customers who visit our websites as is
done by our site hosts for gathering statistical data on the use of the
websites. Aggregated information will not contain any information that
can be linked directly back to you.
2. Personal Information We Collect Automatically
The FOA does not use cookies or any other web tricks to gather
information on visitors to our websites. Our website host, Network
Solutions, does gather traffic statistics for the visitors to our
website. FOA does not accept advertising on any of our websites.
We do not release any information on any of our certificants except we
will confirm FOA certifications and Fiber U certificates of completion
when requested by appropriate persons such as employers or personnel
services.
Our Service Providers (defined below) may also use other standard
web-based technologies to analyze your movements while accessing our
websites. Some of this information, including the IP address, may be
stored on our Internet service provider’s server logs, and may be
available for extended periods of time.
3. Your Rights and Choice
FOA is in agreement with rights of Data Subject as set forth in
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of The European Parliament and of The Council
of 27 April 2016. To that end, FOA has instituted policies that address
the rights of the Data Subject, including, transparency, information and
access to Personal Data, retention, rectification and erasure, and
restriction on processing and portability.
4. Our Use of Your Personal Information
FOA may use your personal information to:
Inform you about your certifications, including expiration dates and the
need for renewal
Provide information about our services and affiliate partnerships
Fulfill your certificant benefits
Prepare invoices and process payments
Respond to any of your questions or requests or other communications you
send to us
Carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any
contract entered between you and us
Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide information to us
Perform any other legitimate purpose reasonably consistent with your
certification or affiliated partnership
Additional uses of your non-personal and personal information will allow
us to tailor our Services specific to your needs, to help organize and
manage our relationship with you or your business, to conduct business,
to provide you with support, and to perform functions that are described
to you at the time of collection.
In general, we will use the personal information we collect from you
only for the purposes described in this privacy policy or for purposes
that we explain to you at the time we collect your personal information.
However, we may also use your personal information for other purposes
that are not incompatible with the purposes we have disclosed to you
(such as archiving purposes in the public interest, research purposes,
or statistical purposes) if and where this is permitted by applicable
data protection laws.
5. Our Disclosure of Your Personal Information to Third Parties
We may share your personal information with the following categories of
recipients:
Those asking for confirmation of FOA Certification for a particular
person will be told 1) if the person involved has been FOA-certified, 2)
what certifications they hold and 3) if that certification is current,
inactive or expired.
Third party service providers (“Service Providers”) who provide (without
limitation) administrative/operational services; data processing;
renewal services; marketing & communication services; meeting
management services; website hosting services; database services;
credit card processing; or who otherwise process personal information
for purposes that are described in this privacy policy or notified to
you when we collect your personal information;
We may also disclose your personal information as is necessary to:
Comply with a subpoena or court order
Cooperate with law enforcement or other government agencies
Establish or exercise our legal rights
Protect the property or safety of our company and employees,
contractors, vendors, suppliers, and customers
Defend against legal claims
Help with internal and external investigations
Or as otherwise required by law or permitted by law
6. Data Storage and Security
We make reasonable efforts to ensure that our service providers have
implemented physical, electronic, and procedural security measures to
assist with safeguarding your personal information, and to help protect
against unauthorized access and disclosure. Notwithstanding our efforts,
the Internet has inherent security risks. We cannot promise, and
you should not expect, that your personal information, personal
searches, and other communications will always remain secure. You should
take care with regard to how you handle and disclose your personal
information or any username or password that you are required to use to
access all of our services.
7. Children and Data Collection
Our website content is not directed toward children who are under the
age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from
children. If we or our Service Providers become aware that a child
has provided us with personal information without parental consent, that
information will be deleted from our databases. If you have
questions about personal information that may have been submitted by a
child, please email us at info@foa.org.
8. How You May Opt Out Of FOA Email Correspondence
Each commercial e-mail that we send to you will offer you the
opportunity to opt-out of continuing to receive such messages. We
may take up to 10 business days to process opt-out requests. You may
briefly continue to receive e-mail even after you have opted out. FTC
e-mail compliance guidance allows us to send you transactional and
relationship e-mail (e.g. renewal notices) without offering you the
opportunity to opt-out of receiving those types of e-mail.
9. Rooms/Forums/Message Boards/News Groups
Our Website may make digital forums available to its users. Please
remember that any information disclosed in these areas becomes public
information, and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose
information through these areas of the Website.
FOA has social media groups that provide forums for participation by
anyone. The privacy policies on those media are set by the providers of
those media and users should review their privacy policies also.
10. Enforcement
We periodically verify that the policy is accurate, comprehensive for
the information intended to be covered, prominently displayed,
completely implemented and accessible and in conformity with the EU or
other privacy principles. We encourage interested persons to raise any
concerns using the contact information provided and we will investigate
and attempt to resolve any complaints or disputes regarding the use and
disclosure of personal information in accordance with the principles.
If a complaint or dispute cannot be resolved through our internal
process, we agree to dispute resolution using a third party resolution
provider.
11. General Information and Privacy Support Contact
In some cases, the United States may not be deemed to have data privacy
laws that afford an equal level of protection for your personal
information as those laws legislated at the direction of the European
Union or other countries, however, please be assured that we will
continue to adhere to the principles stated in this privacy policy and
in applicable laws in connection with any personal information. We will
endeavor to preserve the integrity, confidentiality, and security of
personal information and afford such personal information an adequate
level of protection.
We may update this privacy policy from time to time, and you should take
the time to review it each time that you visit one of our Web sites. We
are committed to protecting your personal privacy. If you have
questions or comments about our efforts to protect your personal
privacy, or if you require additional information about our privacy
commitment, please contact us at info@foa.org.