BACnet International Privacy Policy
Your privacy is important to BACnet International (“BACnet International“, “we“, or “us“). We developed this Privacy Policy to describe how we collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process Personal Information about you, including through websites or applications that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Site”). If you have any questions or comments regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us.
1. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may revise and update this Privacy Policy from time to time and will post the updated Privacy Policy to the Site. If these changes are material (i.e., changes we believe you will find important), we will provide notice of changes by posting notice of the changes on our Site. Where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent.
2. What is Personal Information?
“Personal Information” is information that, either alone or in combination with other information, identifies you. When we combine other information (i.e., information that does not, on its own, identify you) with Personal Information about you, we treat the combined information as Personal Information.
3. How We Collect and Use Personal Information
A. Personal Information You Provide to Us
We collect the following types of information that you provide to us:
Contact Information: In various areas of the Site and in printed materials, we provide you the opportunity to submit a form with basic contact information, such as your name, email, or mailing address. With your permission, BACnet International uses such information to inform you of industry news, technical information and services, and upcoming events that may be of interest based on your participation in BACnet International, expressed interests, selected industry codes, or industry engagement. After your participation ends, we may continue to send you occasional e-mails to provide you with offers to rejoin BACnet International activities. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, the opt-out process is described in Section 5 of this Privacy Policy.
Member Login Information: In various areas of the Site we provide you the opportunity to create and utilize a member login with basic contact information, such as your name, email, or employer. We process your member identification and password to enable you to securely log into the Site, and we process information regarding your role with BACnet International to appropriately control access to restricted content.We process this Personal Information only as necessary to provide you services on the Site under our Terms of Use and to further our legitimate interests in protecting the Site and content.
Membership Information: BACnet International uses the information provided through membership forms to process membership applications and related requests. For example, BACnet International processes BACnet International member type and BACnet International membership number; membership in other associations; information on your involvement in BACnet International such as offices held, committees served on, etc.; educational background; professional background; and personal and professional references. We process this information only as necessary to provide you with the benefits of membership. We also archive membership information for historical purposes.
Purchases and Event Registration Information: When you make a purchase on the Site we collect information relating to your purchase for the purpose of fulfilling your requested purchase and to help further our legitimate interest in better understanding your interests in related subjects so we can improve our future offerings. Similarly, when you register for an event, we process Personal Information, such as special accommodations requested, in order to reserve your space at the event and to further our legitimate interest in preparing for the event.
Payment Information: When you purchase a membership, register for an event, or purchase one of our other offerings from us, third-party service providers acting on our behalf process payment information, including payment card details and billing and shipping addresses, to help us fulfill your orders.
Information Collected through Various Forms: BACnet International gathers information from online forms that are often similar or identical to the information it gathers from traditional printed forms. When you submit information through forms, whether offline or on the Site, you voluntarily provide BACnet International with the information requested, and BACnet International will use the information in order to take the action requested, to complete a requested transaction, or for other reasons related to the purposes for which you provide the information.
In addition, BACnet International may check the information a user has provided via any forms against any information BACnet International has about the user in its customer database. BACnet International does this to help further its legitimate interests in maintaining the most current and accurate information about its customers.
B. Information We Automatically Collect through our Site
We collect the following types of information automatically when you use the Site:
Log Information: When you use our Site, our servers automatically record information, including your Internet Protocol address (“IP Address”), browser type, referring URLs (e.g., the site you visited before coming to our Site), number of clicks, and how you interact with links on the Site, domain names associated with your internet service provider, pages viewed, and other such information (collectively, “Log File Information”). We may also collect similar information from emails sent to you which then help us track which emails are opened and which links are clicked by recipients. We use Log File Information collected from our implementation of the Site to further our legitimate interests in securing the Site by identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities, and in analyzing the effectiveness of our Site to improve the Site’s function and content.
Cookies and Similar Technology:
When you use or access the Site, we may use cookies, device identifiers, and similar technologies such as pixels, web beacons, and local storage to collect information about how you use the Site. We process the information, including Personal Information, collected through such technologies to further our legitimate interests in operating the Site, enhance your experience through personalization, and help us better understand the features of the Site that you and other users are most interested in.
Some of our service providers (described in Section 4, below) and third parties from which we receive content (such as YouTube) use cookies or other methods to gather information regarding your use of our Site. Such third parties may use these cookies or other tracking methods for their own purposes by relating information about your use of our Site with any of your Personal Information that they may have. The use of such information by a third party depends on the privacy policy of that third party. If you would like more information, please see Section 12 for our contact information.
Most browsers provide you with the ability to block, delete, or disable cookies, and your mobile device may allow you to disable transmission of device identifiers. If you choose to reject cookies or block device identifiers, some features of the Site may not be available or some functionality may be limited or unavailable. Please review the help pages of your browser or mobile device for assistance with changing your settings.
Without an industry or legal standard of interpreting Do Not Track Signals (“DNT”) sent to us by your browser, we do not respond to DNT signals at this time.
4. To Whom We Disclose Personal Information
We will not disclose Personal Information about you except as set forth in this Privacy Policy or with your consent. This section describes to whom we disclose Personal Information, and for what purposes:
BACnet Community Development. We may disclose information to other BACnet community organizations to facilitate communication within the BACnet global community. We may also disclose information as necessary to facilitate the communication among BACnet International members and contractors who are investigating local interest in forming a BACnet community in specific geographic areas. Such communication is critical to the success of BACnet global community development. People who receive this information agree to use such information only for limited BACnet community development purposes.
BACnet International Committees, Councils, and Other Groups. By agreeing to participate on an BACnet International Committee, Council, or other group, individuals consent for us to share their contact information with other members of the group. The members of the group agree to use such information only for limited BACnet International business purposes.
Our Service Providers. We employ service providers to perform tasks on our behalf and to assist us in providing the Site. For example, we employ service providers who help with sending emails and maintaining mailing lists, performing marketing research, assisting with the BACnet International publications and webinars, maintaining and developing our website and apps, fulfilling orders and subscriptions.
Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics, an analytics service, to help us analyze the traffic on our Site. For more information on Google Analytics’ processing of Personal Information, please see “How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.”
Law Enforcement, Government Agencies, and Courts. We may disclose Personal Information at the request of law enforcement or government agencies or in response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process to establish, protect, or exercise our legal or other rights or to defend against a legal claim or as otherwise required or allowed by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of a Customer or any other person. We may also disclose Personal Information to investigate or prevent a violation by you of any contractual or other relationship with us or your illegal or harmful activity.
5. E-Mail Opt-Out
BACnet International values the privacy and communication preferences of its members and customers, and maintains an e-mail communication and anti-spam policy. You may choose not to receive marketing emails from us and can opt out of such e-mails through links in emails you receive or by contacting us.
6. International Transfers to U.S.
If you are using the Site or otherwise communicating with BACnet International from outside the United States, please be aware that Personal Information about you may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. The data protection laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using the Site, you consent to your information being transferred to the United States for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
7. Your Data Subject Rights
If you would like to access, amend, erase, export (i.e., data portability), or object to or restrict the processing of Personal Information, you may submit a request. We will promptly review all such requests in accordance with applicable laws.
Depending on where you live, you may have a right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority or other regulatory agency if you believe that we have violated any of the rights concerning Personal Information about you. We encourage you to first reach out to us at us so we have an opportunity to address your concerns directly before you do so.
8. Personal Information from Children
We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information from children we will promptly take steps to delete such Personal Information.
9. Retention of Personal Information
We will retain Personal Information about you for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes for which Personal Information about you has been collected as outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required by law.
10. How We Protect the Confidentiality and Integrity of Personal Information About You
We have implemented security measures to protect Personal Information from loss, misuse, and alteration. Despite these efforts to store Personal Information in a secure operating environment that is not available to the public, we cannot guarantee the security of Personal Information during its transmission or its storage on our systems. Further, while we attempt to ensure the integrity and security of Personal Information, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third parties such as so-called hackers from illegally obtaining access to Personal Information. We do not represent or warrant that Personal Information about you will be protected against, loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties.
11. Links to Third Party Websites
Our Site may contain links to third party websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of third party websites you choose to visit. If you provide any information directly to parties other than us, different rules may apply to the use or disclosure of that information. We encourage you to investigate and ask questions before disclosing your Personal Information to third parties.
12. Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this Privacy Policy you may contact us.