Privacy policy

Last updated: April 3, 2020

This Privacy Policy tells you how we collect, use and share information, including Personal Information on the websites owned and/or managed by Guild of Future Architects Foundation that link to this document (collectively the “Sites”), effective as of the date posted above. By using the Sites and submitting information you agree to the terms of this Policy. For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”) the data controller is Guild of Future Architects Foundation, whose registered office is at 135 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10020.

“Personal Information” is any information that enables us to identify you, directly or indirectly, such as your email address, name, billing address, telephone number, company name, credit card information, any form of identification number or one or more factors specific to your physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity.

“GoFA Users” are individuals who use the Sites for their intended purposes, namely to learn about the discipline and practice of future architecture, to discover the work of Guild members, and to interact with the Guild community.

Information collected directly by Guild of Future Architects Foundation for its own business purposes

We automatically collect information when you visit the Sites including your device’s IP address and basic statistics about how you use the Sites.

We collect Personal Information that you submit when visiting the Sites including registration information, contact information, payment card information if you make a donation or purchase, or other information as needed to provide particular products or services. All registered account holders are required to create a user password that, combined with your login email address, allows access to your account. This Personal Information is used to identify you as a registered user.

We store your Personal Information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements and rights, or if it is not technically and reasonably feasible to remove it.

We use the collected Personal Information for our legitimate business and operational interests and to improve our products and services, for example:

• To respond to your requests or inquiries
• To process transactions
• To manage or facilitate the operation and security of the Sites
• To enhance your experience with the Sites
• To communicate with you about your account or other opportunities related to Guild of Future Architects Foundation
• To identify you or to authenticate your identity
• To monitor and improve the use and satisfaction of the Sites
• To conduct research and analysis

We use your Personal Information according to the terms of the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of our use. We will process your Personal Information where (1) you have provided your consent which can be withdrawn at any time, (2) where the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, (3) where we are required by law, (4) where processing is required to protect your vital interests or those of another person, or (5) where the processing is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate commercial interests, except where such interest are overridden by your rights and interests.

Technical information

We may collect information about how you connect (such as browser type and version, operating system, IP address, device type, time zone setting, and Internet domain), the pages you viewed or searched for, page times, download errors, duration of page visit, page interaction information and any phone number used to call our customer service number, and location information (with your permission). We do not treat this information as Personal Information, except where the information can identify you when associated with other Personal Information we hold or where we are required to do so under applicable law.

Access from Outside the United States

Guild of Future Architects Foundation stores data on servers located in the United States. Your Personal Information will be processed by us in the United States where laws regarding data protection may be less stringent than those in other countries. By using our services and by allowing us to collect information about you all users, including without limitation users in Canada and the European Union, fully understand and unambiguously consent to the collection, transfer, processing, and storage for any Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Cookies

We use cookies and similar technology to collect aggregate (non-personal) information about Sites usage by all of our visitors and to help us distinguish you from other users and to remember you and your preferences when you revisit the Sites. These cookies may stay on your browser into the future until they expire or you delete them by logging out or clearing your browser’s cached data.

The types of cookies we may use on our Website include:

• Session cookies — These temporary cookies expire and are automatically erased whenever you close your browser window. We may use session cookies to grant you access to content and to enable actions you must be logged in to do.
• Persistent cookies — These usually have an expiration date in the distant future and remain in your browser until they expire or you manually delete them. We may use persistent cookies to better understand your use patterns so we can improve the Sites. For example, we may use a persistent cookie to associate you with your user account or to remember your choices on the Sites.
• Third-party cookies — We allow selected third parties to place cookies through the Sites to provide us with better insights into the use of the Sites or user demographics (e.g., Google Analytics). These third parties may collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites. We do not control the use of such third party cookies or the resulting information and we are not responsible for any actions or policies of such third parties.

Your use of our Sites will be deemed to be your consent to the placement of cookies on your computer or other devices. If you prefer not to receive cookies through our Site, you can set your browser to either reject all cookies, to allow only “trusted” websites to set them, or to accept only those cookies from those sites you are currently on. Unless you have adjusted the setting of your browser so that it will refuse cookies, our system may issue cookies when you access the Sites. If your browser is set to reject cookies, or if your browser notifies you that you are about to receive a cookie and you reject it, then your use of the Sites may not be as efficient as it would be if the cookie were enabled, and some parts of the Sites may not work at all. We do not currently use technology that recognizes a “do-not-track” signal from your web browser.

How we handle sensitive information

Making a donation or purchase through the Sites requires that you provide credit card information. This is an example of “sensitive information” that must be treated with extra caution.

Our policy is not to store sensitive information except when it is necessary to do so. For example, we do not store full credit card numbers after transmitting them to our payment processing vendor.

When sensitive information must be transmitted over the internet, such as when we send a credit card number to our payment processing vendor, it is transmitted over encrypted channels, making it much more difficult for an attacker to intercept and steal.

Children’s privacy

The Sites are neither designed nor intended to be attractive for use by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13. If you are under 13 please do not submit any information to us.

Sharing your information with third-parties

Your privacy is important to us. We will never share your personal information with advertisers or other third parties, with certain limited exceptions:

• Some features/services require that we share information with third-party service providers, such as payment processors who perform services for us in connection with the Sites or to complete or confirm a transaction or series of transactions that you conduct with us.
• We may need to disclose Personal Information when required by law when we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order, legal process served, or to enforce a legal agreement, or to protect our rights, property or safety or the rights, property or safety of our users or others.
• In the event that Guild of Future Architects Foundation goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, Personal Information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred.

Your California privacy rights

California residents are permitted by California law to request information about the manner in which we share certain categories of information with others for their marketing purposes. Please contact us to request this disclosure.

Your European privacy rights

For Individuals Within The EEA Only. Under the GDPR, in certain circumstances, you have the right to (a) request access to any Personal Information we hold about you and related information, (b) obtain without undue delay the rectification of any inaccurate Personal Information, (c) request that your Personal Information is deleted provided the Personal Information is not required by Guild of Future Architects Foundation for compliance with a legal obligation under European or Member State law or for the establishment, exercise or defense of a legal claim, (d) prevent or restrict processing of your Personal Information, except to the extent processing is required for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; and (e) request transfer of your Personal Information directly to a third party where this is technically feasible.

In addition, where you believe that the Guild of Future Architects Foundation has not complied with its obligation under this Privacy Policy or European law, you have the right to make a complaint to an EU Data Protection Authority.

Notification of changes

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement with an updated effective date so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.