Privacy Statement

American Acne and Rosacea Society

Website Privacy Policy

Revised May 25, 2018

This Privacy Policy explains how the AARS collects, uses, and shares information that is gathered about you when you use our website.  Also, this Policy describes the choices you have regarding our use as well as your ability to access, correct, or delete the information. Please be sure to read this entire Privacy Policy before using or submitting information to this site.  Subject to applicable law, by using the Site, you are accepting the terms of this Policy and consenting to the collection, use, and sharing described.

I. Our Commitment to Privacy

This Privacy Policy applies to all of the websites owned and operated by the American Acne and Rosacea Society (“AARS”) unless expressly noted otherwise.  AARS is committed to respecting your privacy and recognizing your need for appropriate protection and management of personal information.

II. Personal Information We Collect

Personal information is any information that we can use to identify, locate, or contact you. Examples include your name, email address, phone number, and mailing and billing addresses.  In certain sections of the website you may be asked to provide us with personal information such as when submitting a membership application or renewal.  In that case we will collect additional personal information up to and including your shipping address, and a credit card number and expiration date in order to process your submission properly; and, such information will be shared with applicable third parties (i.e, payment processing providers), so they may process the transaction.

III. Passive Information Collection

As you navigate through this site, certain anonymous information can be passively collected (that is gathered without your actively providing the information).  For example, we automatically collect information about your device, operating system, your browser, and how you use the website.  We collect this information using various technologies such as cookies, Internet tags or web beacons, and navigational data collection (log files, server logs, clickstream).  Your Internet browser automatically transmits some of this anonymous information, such as the URL of the website you just came from and the Internet Protocol (IP) address and the browser version your computer is currently using.  

Cookies are small text files containing small amounts of information that are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website and stored within your browser.  Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit to that website or another website that recognizes those cookies.  Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognize a user’s device and help improve the website’s performance, to provide customized viewing options, to compile statistical reports on website activity, for security purposes and to recognize you from a prior visit.   We understand that not everyone wants to permit the use of cookies. You may set your browser to notify you when a cookie is sent or to refuse cookies altogether, but certain features of this site might not work without cookies.

Web beacons allow third parties to obtain information, such as the IP address of the computer that accessed the page on which the web beacon appears, the URL of the page on which the web beacon appears, the time the page containing the web beacon was viewed, the type of browser used to view the page, and the information in cookies sent by the third party.

This site may use and combine passively collected anonymous information to provide better service to site visitors, customize the site based on visitor preferences, compile and analyze statistics and trends, and otherwise administer and improve the site for use.

IV. Information from Social Media Networks, Advertising Partners, and Other Third Parties.

We may obtain information about you or your use of the Services from our vendors and other third parties such as analytics providers or advertisers if such third parties have a legal basis to share such information.  We may combine the information you provide us and information we automatically collect with information from public or third-party sources.  When you access the website through social media networks and other third-party platforms, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  If we combine or associate information from other sources with personal information that we collect, we will treat the combined information as personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

V. Use of Personal Information

Your personal information enables us to provide you with the information you have requested, with information regarding the status of your membership and transactions, and with information regarding future opportunities that may suit your particular interests.  

AARS may share your personal information to third parties:  (a) performing functions on behalf of AARS such as vendors that provide website hosting, payment processing, event registrations, and email outreach serves; (b) in order to comply with a valid legal requirement such as in compliance with any law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; or (c) in special cases when we believe it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent or take action regarding any illegal or unauthorized activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person or violations of our Terms of Use Policy.

We may prepare and maintain information collected in a format that does not identify you and we may use or share that aggregated information without your consent.   For example, we may analyze personal data to generate aggregated or statistical data, neither of which is personal information.  We use such information for our business purposes.

VI. Your Choices

You can choose not to provide us with personal information when using the website.  However, if the information request is not identified as optional and a user chooses not to provide required personal information, then you may not be able to use the features of the website or mobile applications.

You can opt-out of receiving promotional emails by following unsubscribe links in those emails.

You can configure your browser to reject cookies or to notify you when a cookie is set.  However, if you reject cookies, the website may not operate properly.

You can request access to or obtain a portable copy of your personal information and correct, update, or request that we delete information at any time by sending a message to us at info@aarsmember.org and provide any relevant confirmation or reference number.

You may object to our processing of your personal information.  If we are processing your personal information based upon your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

If you are a registered user, you may reset your password, update your personal data, correct information, delete your account, or opt-out of certain services by accessing your account.

VII. Your Consent and the Effective Date of any Changes

By using this site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.  Whenever you submit information to this site, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

AARS reserves the right to modify or supplement this Privacy Policy at any time without any prior notice to you.  Please regularly review this Privacy Policy, and especially before you provide any personal information, to keep up to date with any changes that may affect your use of the AARS website.  Your continued use of the AARS website once the revised Privacy Policy has been posted on the site affirms your agreement to such changes.

VIII. General Data Protection Regulation

If you are located where GDPR applies, information that we collect will be processed and stored in the United States, a jurisdiction in which the data protection and privacy laws may not offer the same level of protection as those in the country where you reside or are a citizen.  Subject to applicable law, by using our website and providing information to use, you consent to the transfer to and processing of information in the United States and other jurisdictions.

IX. A Special Notice About Children

This site is not intended for children under the age of 13.  We will not knowingly collect personal  information via this site from visitors that are 13-years old or younger.  We encourage parents to talk to their children about use of the internet.  However, if you are aware that we have collected personal information from a child without parental consent, please notify us promptly and we will delete that information.

X. Security

The AARS has put in place physical, technical, organizational, and administrative safeguards to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access or loss.   For example, the AARS contracts with a third party to maintain and host the website and with third party secure payment processing providers.  The third parties have implemented security features and strict policy guidelines to safeguard the privacy of your personal information.

Although AARS uses commercially reasonable efforts to safeguard your information and protect it from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction, transmissions made by means of the Internet cannot be fully secure in all instances and we cannot guarantee that personal information that we collect will never be disclosed in a manner that is not consistent with this Privacy Policy.

 If you choose to use this website, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer or similar devices and you are responsible for all activities that occur under your account and password.  Therefore, safeguard your AARS password and use caution and discretion when posting information on public areas of the site.

To the extent that this website contains links or references to other websites, please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply.  We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy of every website you visit.

XI. Retention Period

We will retain your information for as long as it is needed for the purposes listed above and is also dependent upon the purpose(s) for which it is collected, how it is used, and the requirements to comply with applicable laws.  If you request that we delete your personal information and we do not have a legal basis for retaining it, we will delete it as required by applicable law.  We may retain information that no longer identifies you indefinitely.

XII. Questions, Comments, or to Opt Out

If you have any questions, comments, requests, or concerns related to this Privacy Policy, or if at any time you would like to opt out of future communications, please contact us by submitting your inquiry or instructions through one of the following methods:

  • Send us an e-mail at info@aarsmember.org
  • Call us at toll free at 1-888-744-DERM (1-888-744-3376)
  • Send us a fax at 973-783-4576
  • Write to us at 201 Claremont Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042

Please note that any opt-out request may take up to ten (10) days to become effective.