Privacy Policy

Introduction and Scope

Effective 04/13/2024

Introduction and Scope

This privacy policy describes how the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (sometimes referred to as “SHPESD,” “us,” “we,” “our,” or “ours”) collect, use, and disclose information relating to you, your computer, or your device (the “Personal Information”). This Privacy Policy describes our practices with information that we (or our service providers) collect from a user (sometimes referred to as “you,” “your,” or “yours”) through our websites, our applications, any mobile applications, and our other network-connected products and services that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Site”). This Privacy Policy only addresses information collected directly through or from our Site – it does not address or govern any information-gathering, use, or dissemination practices related to information collected from you other than directly through or from the Site, such as from telephone, facsimile, postal mail, personal delivery, or other or additional offline means or media.

1. Collection of Personal Information From Users.

When you interact with us through the Site, we may collect information about you as described below.

a. Information You Provide.

Some elements of the Site may ask you to submit Personal Information in order for you to benefit from the specified features or participate in a certain activity, such as email newsletters, donation processing, completion of surveys, event registrations, and comments. For example:

  • Donations: If you make online donations on the site,you will be subject to PayPal’s privacy policy.
  • Searches, Internet or electronic network activity, and application usage data: When you perform a search within the Site, SHPESD may record information identifying you or linking you to the search performed and recording information related to the search request. We may also record other information about your use of and engagement with the Site.
  • Events and Training: When you register for an event, we will ask for your name, your contact information, and we may ask for other information related to dietary restrictions, special facilities or equipment that you may require, and emergency contact information. We may ask for an email address or mobile phone number to contact you regarding event-related activities and opportunities. We may also request demographic information, such as your job title, company information, and educational background.
  • Recordings: When you participate in an event, your likeness or voice may be recorded through the Site, and transcripts of chat logs or comments may be produced.
  • Surveys and contests: If you choose to participate in a survey or a contest you may be asked to provide information, including contact information and demographic information, like your job title.
  • Media: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
  • Comments: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
  • Student Scholarships: Certain parts of the Site may allow you to submit information or attachments, such as a university transcript for a scholarship. On these pages of the Site, we collect the information you provide to us, which may include your contact information, your current employment, your employment history, your education and training, and any work restrictions.
  • Contact Us: We collect the information that you provide when you contact us through the “Contact Us” portion of the Site.

We may combine the information you submit through the Site with other information we have collected from you, whether on-line or off-line. We treat the combined information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

b. Information About Minors.

The Site is not intended for persons under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information online from persons in this age group. Parents or legal guardians who believe their child has provided us with Personal Information should contact us at [email protected] to request deletion of Personal Information associated with their child.

c. Location Information.

We may collect precise location information when you provide consent to that collection, for example when you leave a comment on the Site or otherwise provide consent to the collection of location information through the Site. This location information may be provided to the public in association with the comment you provide.  

d. Passive Information Collection, Use, and Choices.

As you navigate the Site, certain Personal Information may be passively collected, meaning it is gathered without your actively providing it. This is done using techniques such as:

  • IP Addresses & Other Technical Information:  When you visit our Site, we may view the IP address, Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type and operating system type and version screen resolution, Internet browser type and version, and other technical information about the device and browser you use to visit the Site. We use this information to determine the general physical location of the device and understand from what geographic regions our website visitors come. We also may use this information to enhance and deliver our Site, as well as other analytics and operations purposes.
  • Social Media Widgets: Our Site may include social media tools, such as Facebool, including social media widgets or plug-ins, to connect you to our social media accounts. These features may set a cookie or use other automatic collection and tracking technologies to collect information about you and your use of the social media features through and in connection with our Site. These social media tools may be hosted by a third party. Your interactions with these tools and the corresponding social media platforms are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide such platforms.
  • Cookies:If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed. If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
  • Embedded Content: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

You can refuse our use of some or all cookies by turning off the use of cookies in your web browser. If you use your browser settings to block all types of cookies you may not be able to access all or parts of our Site or functionality may be limited.

e. Information from Third Parties.

We may receive information about you and your devices from third parties and combine that information, as well as any other information you provide or we collect together.  

2. How We Use the Information We Collect.

We use Personal Information submitted by you or otherwise collected through the Site and through other sources for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and as otherwise described to you at the point of collection. Specifically, we may use Personal Information or other information we receive and combine about you:

  • if you are a member, to deliver membership benefits to you;
  • to respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests, such as to send you information that you request and to fulfill your donations;
  • to send you important information regarding our relationship with you or regarding the Site, changes to our terms, conditions, and policies, and other administrative information;
  • if you provide Personal Information in order to obtain access to or use the functionality part of the Site, we will use your Personal Information to provide you with access to and use of that functionality, including to evaluate your qualifications to use such functionality;
  • if you choose to complete a survey, we may use the information for purposes of evaluating your feedback from the survey;
  • If you register for an event, we may use your Personal Information to contact you and send you information relating to the event, including by email. If it is a paid event, we may process your credit card or other account information for payment purposes. We may also use the information to manage the event, including to address dietary restrictions and facility accommodations. We may use Personal Information to notify you about upcoming events, donation opportunities, and for other fundraising purposes;
  • we may use Personal Information to promote our products and services, and the products and services of our affiliates for our business purposes, that may include data analysis, audits, recordkeeping, developing new products or services, enhancing the Site, improving our services, identifying Site usage trends, personalizing your experience on the Site, and determining the effectiveness of our fundraising campaigns.
  • If we intend to collect and use Personal Information for another purpose, we may seek your permission at the time the information is collected.
  • This website uses the Privacy Suite for WordPress by Complianz to collect and record Browser and Device-based Consent. For this functionality, your IP address is anonymized and stored in our database. This service does not process any personally identifiable information and does not share any data with the service provider. For more information, see the Complianz Privacy Statement.
  • We collect information about visitors who comment on Sites that use our Akismet Anti-spam service. The information we collect depends on how the User sets up Akismet for the Site, but typically includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself).
  • When purchasing Eventbrite Tickets, attendee, purchaser, and order information are stored and managed by Eventbrite.
  • The Events Calendar suite offers the use of third-party API keys. The primary functions are to enhance the features we’ve built in, some of which use Google Maps, PayPal, Eventbrite, and Meetup. These API keys are not supplied by The Events Calendar.
  • We make use of certain APIs, in order to provide specific features.
  • These APIs may include the following third party services: Google Maps (API key), Meetup (OAuth token), PayPal (email, Client ID, Client Secret), Eventbrite (API key, auth URL, Client Secret), and Zoom (email, Client ID, Client Secret).
  • All information (data) is retained in the local database indefinitely, unless otherwise deleted.
  • Certain data may be exported or removed upon submitting a request.
  • The Events Calendar does not send any user data outside of your website by default.
  • If you have used our plugin(s) to send data to a third-party service such as Eventbrite, Google Maps, or PayPal, user information may be passed to these external services. These services may be located abroad and subject to each service’s privacy policy.
  • How long data is retained: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
  • What rights you have over your data: :If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
  • Where your data is sent: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
  • Nextend Social Login collects data when a visitor registers, login or links the account with any of the enabled social providers. It collects the following data: email address, name, social provider identifier and access token. Also it can collect profile picture and more fields with the Pro Addon’s sync data feature.Nextend Social Login stores the personal data on your site and does not share it with anyone except the access token which used for the authenticated communication with the social providers.Nextend Social Login use the access token what the social provider gave to communicate with the providers to verify account and securely access personal data.Nextend Social Login removes the collected personal data when the user deleted from WordPress.Nextend Social Login use the personal data collected by the social providers to create account on your site when the visitor authorize it.Yes, Nextend Social Login must create a cookie for visitors who use the social login authorization flow. This cookie is required for every provider to secure the communication and to redirect the user back to the last location. The plugin does not collect directly or indirectly telemetry data nor enqueue JavaScript, tracking pixels or embed iframes from a third party.
  • We may use any information that does not personally identify you, your computer, or your device, for any purpose.

3. Our Disclosure of Your Information.

We may share your Personal Information with third parties only as described in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise described at the point where we collect the information from you, including:

  • to our affiliates for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy;
  • to the companies or individuals that we hire to provide services to us, such as website hosting services and analytics providers;
  • to third parties to promote our products and services; 
  • to third parties to promote products and services we think may be of interest to you;
  • to sponsors and partner organizations to verify program performance;
  • If you choose to make an online donation or other payment through the Site, your payment will be processed by a third-party company that specializes in processing online payments. to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings). With your consent.

4. Uses and Disclosures to Comply with Laws.

In addition, where permitted by applicable law, we use and disclose Personal Information collected through the Site as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (i) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (ii) to comply with legal process; (iii) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (iv) to enforce our terms and conditions; (v) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (vi) to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and (vii) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

5. Interest-Based Advertising. 

We may partner with ad networks and other ad serving providers (“Advertising Providers”) that serve ads on behalf of us and others on non-affiliated platforms.  Some of those ads may be personalized, meaning that they are intended to be relevant to you based on information Advertising Providers collect about your use of the Site and other sites or apps over time, including information about relationships among different browsers and devices.  This type of advertising is known as interest-based advertising.

You may visit the DAA WebChoices tool at www.aboutads.info/choices  to learn more about this type of advertising and how to opt out of this advertising on websites by companies participating in the DAA self-regulatory program.  Additionally, you can visit www.aboutads.info/appchoices to download the DAA’s AppChoices tool for your mobile device to opt-out of interest-based advertising for your mobile device. 

If you delete your cookies, reset your identifier, or use a different browser or mobile device, you may need to renew your opt-out choices exercised through the DAA’s tools or make choices through those other browsers or devices.  Note that electing to opt out will not stop advertising from appearing in your browser or applications.  It may make the ads you see less relevant to your interests.

6. Links to Third-Party Sites.

The Site may contain links to other Websites for the convenience of users in locating information, products, or services that may be of interest. If you access a third-party website from a link on this Site, any information you disclose on that website is not subject to this Privacy Policy. It is possible that these links may be used by third parties or others to collect personal or other information about you. SHPESD is not responsible for the privacy practices of such websites, advertisers, or third parties or the content of such websites, and it is your sole obligation to review and understand the privacy practices and policies of these other websites. SHPESD does not control these third parties’ use of cookies, collection of information, or how they manage such information. It is solely your obligation to review and understand the privacy practices and policies of these other websites, advertisers, and any third parties.

7. Security.

SHPESD will take reasonable steps to help protect the information collected and provided via the Site from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. 

8. For California Residents.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 (also known as the “Shine The Light” law) permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, information about the Personal Information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy.

SHPESD reserves the right at any time to modify, alter, or update this Privacy Policy. Your use of the Site following any changes means that you agree to follow and be bound by the Privacy Policy as changed, subject to limitations under applicable law. Any change to this Privacy Policy shall be effective as to any user who has visited the Site before the change was made. Please review this policy periodically, and especially before you provide any Personal Information to us. 

10. Contacting Us.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our information practices. You may contact us as follows:

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

San Diego Professional Chapter

P.O. Box 910131

San Diego, CA 92191-0131

[email protected]