Privacy Policy

Last Updated 5/15/06

Our Commitment to Privacy

Your privacy is important to us.Our ongoing commitment to the protection of your privacy is essential to maintaining the relationship of trust that exists between Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (“VLAA”) and all of the nonprofit organizations, individuals, partners, sponsors and other visitors to the site.This Privacy Policy is intended to help you understand VLAA’s information security practices.

The Information We Collect

You may have directly accessed VLAA’s Web site, the home page of which is located at http://www.vlaa.org/ (“Web site”), or through the Web site of one of the BoardlinkSTL alliance partners.

This Policy applies to all personally identifiable information you submit to VLAA through the Web site.It does not apply to any information you submit to VLAA via fax or mail.Please note that VLAA cannot be responsible for the information you submit to BoardlinkSTL alliance partners, who may have their own posted policies regarding collection of information.We urge you to review the policies of our BoardlinkSTL alliance partners through whom you may access our services.

At this time, VLAA does not collect any information directly though the Web site. However, we may in the future solicit and collect information directly though the Web site (“Information”).

VLAA reserves the right, at any time, to revise this Privacy Policy and /or change the extent of the Information it collect from you without notice. Any such revisions will be signified by changing the last updated date at the top of this Web page.Your continued use of the Web site following the posting of the revisions to this Privacy Policy will mean your acceptance of the revisions.

Your access to the Web site is hereby deemed acceptance of VLAA’s practices described in this Policy Policy. All information shared by you with VLAA through the Web site is subject to the provisions of this Privacy Policy and to VLAA’s Conditions of Use, which are hereby incorporated herein.

VLAA does not intend to collect or maintain information from users actually known to be under the age of 13, and no part of VLAA’s Web site is structured to attract anyone under the age of 13.

How We Use Information

VLAA uses the Information it collects about you to facilitate providing information and/or services to you by VLAA, BoardlinkSTL alliance partners and/or VLAA authorized third parties.Such services may include, but are not limited to, weekly calender event e-mails, newsletters and event announcements.

Please be aware that, to the extent required to provide our services, VLAA may share your Information with individuals, nonprofit organizations, BoardlinkSTL alliance partners, or VLAA authorized third parties, as applicable.

In addition, VLAA may share aggregate information about you with certain third parties to continue to improve its services to you.This information shows user activity as a whole rather than on an individual basis and cannot be used to individually identify you.

Further, VLAA may release your Information to appropriate governmental authorities where release is required by law (for example, a subpoena) or by a regulation, or is requested by a government agency conducting investigations or proceedings.

VLAA may also use your Information where it believes, in its sole discretion, that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone (including yourself) who may have breached VLAA’s Conditions Use or who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) VLAA’s rights or property, other VLAA users, or anyone else who could be harmed by such activities.

Third-party Access and Use

Occasionally, VLAA may hire third-party service providers to help it provide or improve the services it offers to you.Sometimes it is necessary for these providers to have access to the Information VLAA collects about you. In those cases, VLAA takes reasonable steps to ensure that these providers do not use or otherwise disclose any Information except for the purpose of fulfilling their service obligations to VLAA.

Use of Cookies

VLAA, or BoardlinkSTL alliance partners, collect non-identifiable and personal information through the use of various technologies, including ‘cookies.’ You can set your browser to be notified before a cookie is received, and thereby have an opportunity to decide whether to accept cookies. If you decide to refuse cookies, you may not be able to view and / or access the Web site and /or other third party Web sites as intended.

Accessing Another Web Site through VLAA

The Web site contains links to other Web sites. VLAA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other Web sites.

How You Can Delete or Correct Your Information

You have the right at any time to cease permitting your Information to be collected, used or disclosed by VLAA, or to seek changes thereto, by contacting VLAA via e-mail [vlaa@stlrac.org] or by mail [6128 Delmar, St. Louis, MO 63112]. After processing such correspondence, VLAA will delete or modify, as applicable, your Information.

Our Commitment to Data Security

VLAA uses industry standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving your Information, and maintains industry standard security measures in its physical facility to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of your Information collected by VLAA.

However, since internet transmissions cannot be made absolutely secure, VLAA shall not be liable for unauthorized disclosure of personal information due to no fault of VLAA including, but not limited to, errors in transmission and unauthorized acts of third parties.

If you have created a registered account on the Web site and have secured it with a password, you must take care not to divulge your password to anyone.VLAA will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or e-mail. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and any account information saved or transmitted outside of VLAA’s systems.

In the unlikely event that VLAA undergoes a sale or transfer of all or substantially all of its assets, the acquiring entity will be subject to this Privacy Policy in its use of your Information. In addition, in the further unlikely event that VLAA is adjudicated bankrupt or insolvent (a) there will be no further use or disclosure of your Information by VLAA and (b) your Information will be destroyed. In addition, there will be no use or disclosure of your Information by any entity that acquires assets of VLAA pursuant to such bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings.

Sample Policies
St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts encourages artists and arts organizations to include privacy statements on their web sites. Guidance on drafting a policy can be found on the On-Line Privacy On-Line Privacy Alliance site.

Thanks

This policy was drafted by Aisha Reynolds, Washington University School of Law, Intellectual Property and Business Formation Clinic.