Publication Date (revised): May 29, 2012
IBS Self Help and Support Group ("IBS Group") respects your privacy. That's why we have created this Privacy Statement to explain how and why we collect certain information online, and how we use that information. This statement also explains how you can prevent collection of certain information about yourself, if you choose. Please take a few moments to read our Privacy Statement. This statement applies to both information we collect from visitors to the IBSGroup.org Web site, as well as information we collect or have access to when on our message boards.
Right to Change Policy
As IBS Group is constantly innovating and enhancing the bulletin board and services it provides to its users, this Privacy Statement will also continue to change to match the bulletin board and services we make available. As such, we reserve the right to change this statement to match the bulletin board and services we provide. If we make any material change to this statement, we will change the date at the top of this statement to reflect the effective date of the change. When you visit our site or use our bulletin board and services, we encourage you to check the date of this Privacy Statement to ensure you are aware of any updates.
However, regardless of how this Privacy Statement may change or evolve over time, IBS Group will not collect or maintain your private and personally identifiable information without your consent. Further, if you consent to give us your personal information, we will keep it confidential and will not sell, license or disclose your personal information to any third party without your consent, unless we are compelled to do so under the law or to comply with a court order.
Contact for Privacy Inquiries
If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement or other questions about privacy on the IBS Group site, please contact:
Via Postal Mail:
IBS Self Help and Support Group
P.O. Box 94074
Toronto, Ontario M4N 3R1
CANADA
Or Via E-mail: ibs@ibsgroup.org
Types of Information We Collect
Generally, you are free to browse the IBSGroup.org site without submitting any personal information. We do not collect any of your personal information (such as a name, address or e-mail address) when you visit the IBS Group site, unless you register or have registered to use one of our services, complete one of our evaluations, or otherwise agree to submit to us such information. As part of such processes, you have the opportunity to decline further promotional materials or other notifications from us regarding special offers and information from IBS Group. Types of information collected on specific services on the IBSGroup.org site are described in more detail below.
Registration on Our Site
IBS Group requires users who want to participate in the IBS Group support message boards to register. In order to register, you must provide us with a username (which does not have to be your real name), password and a valid e-mail address. This allows us to protect our community from abusive postings and provides a verifiable point of contact should legal questions arise. At any time, you have the ability to keep your e-mail address hidden from other users by selecting that option within your user profile.
When you register, you have the option of providing some additional information such as occupation, interests, and homepage URL. This optional information is made available to other bulletin or message board users to foster a sense of community. If you have any concerns about providing this information, simply leave the fields blank and your registration will still be processed.
IF YOU ARE UNDER 13 YEARS OF AGE you are not allowed to participate in the IBS Group support forums or to provide any personal information on our site.
Forums Newsletter Subscription
IBS Group offers an option to subscribe to a periodic newsletter regarding our organization's activities, promotions, product announcements and news items. The only piece of information required is the user's e-mail address, which is only used to distribute the requested newsletter. You can "unsubscribe" to the newsletter at any time by e-mailing ibsbb@ibsgroup.org with the subject line "Newsletter Unsubscribe."
Cookies
IBS Group uses browser cookies to facilitate your experience with our bulletin board, services and sponsors. These cookies are small sections of code that our server sends to your browser which it can then store on your hard drive. If you choose to accept these cookies, they enable us, or our sponsors, to recognize that your browser has previously visited and used our site, bulletin board or services and, based on your browser's previous visits, assist us with tailoring the information and content, banners and promotions you view. These cookies also enable us to recognize when you access and use IBS Group's bulletin board. An example of the customization allowed by the use of such cookies is to retain your username and password as part of the bulletin board forums on our site so you don't have to re-enter them each time you visit. These cookies do not collect, store or maintain your private, personally identifiable information. You do not have to accept these cookies to visit or use the IBS Group site or our bulletin board and services, and you can choose to refuse our cookie, delete our cookie from your hard drive or turn off the IBS Group cookie at any time by updating your user profile preferences.
The IBS Group uses, in part, Google Adsense to deliver relevant advertising. Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on this site. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our sites and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy .
Currently we are using Google Analytics to analyze the audience of the website and improve our content. No personal information is collected from Google Analytics. For further information on the privacy policy concerning Google Analytics, please go here: http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html
Technical Support
Any personal information you provide to us in the course of obtaining technical support, or asking other questions about IBS Group will be used only for the purposes for which it was submitted. We may store the information, but we will not use it for any other purposes or disclose it to any third parties.
Use and Disclosure of Your Information
IBS Group uses the personal information it collects from registration forms you fill out on our site to:
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Allow users to access and use our bulletin board and/or services;
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Supply users with installation instructions, download, access or use information, and technical support information;
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Provide users of our bulletin board and/or services on our site with information about special offers and promotions; and
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Improve our bulletin board and services by using statistical analysis and evaluation of user data.
We use the anonymous information we collect from the other methods described above, such as cookie information, to collect broad demographic information about user trends, count the number of users of our bulletin board and/or services, to provide advertising services and to continue to enhance and improve our bulletin board and services.
We do not and will not disclose your private, personally identifiable information to any third party for any purpose without your prior consent. However, IBS Group reserves the right to disclose your personal information if required to do so by law, or in the good faith belief that such action is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, respond to claims, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, its employees, customers, or the public.
All reasonable care is taken by our staff in handling your personal information to ensure its security both offline and online. It is our policy to destroy server access and any personal information provided during the technical support process upon completion of the technical support incident.
Changing or Updating Personal Information
If you would like to update or change your user profile on our message boards, click here .
To unsubscribe to our IBS Group Forums newsletter, please e-mail ibsbb@ibsgroup.org with the subject line "Newsletter Unsubscribe".
If you have questions regarding your information, you can contact us via our Contact page.
Postings on Forums
It is important for you to remain aware that when you provide personal information (e.g., last name, address, phone number) in a posting on any message board, that information is available to any other person or user having access and use of that message board, and may be used by someone in a manner unintended by you. For that reason, we discourage you from offering any personally identifying information within a posting to any message board.
