Privacy Policy


Last Changes to Privacy Policy: October 30, 2014

We are strongly committed to letting you know how we will collect and use your personal information. The policies below are applicable to data and information collected through http://www.emsconnect.org, the affiliated network of websites (including any versions optimized for viewing on a wireless or tablet device); all email correspondences with EMSconnect; all surveys or newsletters published or distributed by EMSconnect and all other interactive features, services, and communications provided by EMSconnect (“Services”), however accessed and/or used, that are operated by us, made available by us, or produced and maintained by Dierks Group LLC d/b/a EMSconnect (collectively “EMSconnect” or “we”, “us”, or “our”). We have established this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to let you know the kinds of personal information we may gather during your use of this Service, why we gather your information, what we use your personal information for, when we might disclose your personal information, and how you can manage your personal information.

Please be advised that the practices described in this Privacy Policy apply only to information gathered online through our Service. It does not apply to information that you may submit to us offline or by companies or organizations to which we may link or who may link to us.

By using our Service, you are accepting the practices described in our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Service. We reserve the right to modify or amend the terms of our Privacy Policy from time to time without notice. Your continued use of our Service following the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes. If we intend to apply the modifications or amendments to this Privacy Policy retroactively or to personal information already in our possession, we will provide you with notice of the modifications or amendments.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or don’t see your concerns addressed here, you should contact us by email at info@emsconnect.org

What Information About Me Is Collected and Stored?

We collect two basic types of information from you in conjunction with your use of the Service, personal information and non-personal information. Personal information is information that you may supply to us, as described more fully below, i.e., when you place an order, complete a survey, register on the Service, upload content, participate in a community, or provide your e-mail address. Personal information is any information that can individually identify you and includes, among other things, your name, e-mail address, telephone number, postal address, credit card, billing and contact information. Non-personal information includes information that does not personally identify you, but it may include tracking and usage information about your location, demographics, use of the Service and the Internet.

Personal Information
As a general matter, there are a number of circumstances in which you may supply us with your personal information. The following lists the most common ways in which we may collect your personal information.
  • Registration for an account on the Service.
  • Profile information that You provide for Your user profile.
  • Participation in surveys, promotions, contests, and/or sweepstakes offered by EMSconnect.
  • Sign up to receive alerts or other information via email, text or instant message from EMSconnect.
  • Request for customer service or other assistance.
  • Service related communications, e.g. account verification; technical notification.
  • Submission of content or other data and information on any part of the Service that permits it.
  • Any other place on the Service where you knowingly volunteer personal information.

Non-Personal Information
In addition, when you interact with the Service, we may collect certain information that does not identify you individually and our servers may automatically keep an activity log of your use of our Service (“Non-Personal Information”). Generally, we collect and store the following categories of Non-Personal Information:
  • Non-identifiable demographic data such as age, gender, and five digit zip code as part of collecting personal information.
  • Device information about your computer, browser, mobile device, or other device that you use to access the Service. This information may include IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language, and other transactional information.
  • Analytics and usage information about your use of the Service.
  • Additional “traffic data” and log files such as time of access, date of access, software crash reports, session identification number, access times, and referring website addresses.
  • Other information regarding your use of the Service.

Collection of Your Source IP Address/Location Information
We will collect and store location information about you on the Service and associated with your account that you volunteer on the Service or enable through the Service or your device. We will not collect any location information that you do not volunteer or enable. We will delete any location information that you request is deleted. We do collect and store your device’s source IP address which may disclose the location of your device at the time you access the Service.

Collection of Personal Information From or Through Social Media Sites or Using Your Social Media Logon
When you interact with any EMSconnect page or account on a social media platform, such as Facebook, , we may collect the personal information that you make available to us on that page or account including your account ID or “handle.” However, we will comply with the privacy policies of the corresponding social media platform and we will only collect and store such personal information that we are permitted to collect by these social media platforms.

Collection of Personal and Non-Personal Information From Other Sources
We also may collect and store information about you that we receive from other sources (including by us from our offline interactions with you) to, among other things, enable us to update and correct the information contained in our database and to better customize your experience on the Service.

Collection of Personal and Non-Personal Information Through Surveys and Promotions
From time to time We may provide You with the opportunity to participate in sweepstakes or other promotions on our Service, which might be sponsored or conducted by a third party. If you participate, We will request certain personally information from You. Participation in these sweepstakes and promotions are completely voluntary and You therefore have a choice whether or not to disclose this personal information. The requested personal information typically includes contact information. If there is a third party sponsor involved please make sure to review that party’s privacy policy.

Collection of Third Party Personal Information Through Tell-A-Friend Feature
We may from time to time conduct a referral service to introduce people you know to our Sites and Service. If you choose to use our referral service to tell other people about our Sites and Service, we will ask you for the other person’s name and email address. We will automatically send that person a one-time email inviting him or her to visit our website. EMSconnect stores this information for the purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program. The referred individual may contact us at info@emsconnect.org to request that we remove this information from our database.

Use of Cookies, Flash Cookies, Web Storage, and Web Beacons
Like many websites, we use “cookies”, which are small text files that are stored on your computer or equipment when you visit certain online pages that record your preferences and actions. We may also use cookies to monitor traffic, improve the Sites and make it easier and/or relevant for your use. We use both “session” cookies and “persistent” cookies. We use cookies for the other purposes set out below:
  • We use cookies to remind us who you are and to find your account information in our database when you access a service so you do not need to log in at every visit. This helps us to provide you with service tailored to your specific needs and interests. A cookie is created when you register for a service.
  • We use cookies to determine the browser the visitor uses so the site can be designed to work properly with the most common versions of different browsers.
  • Advertisers that place ads on the Sites may use cookies.
  • We use cookies to estimate our audience size. Your browser is given a unique cookie that helps us determine whether yours is a repeat visit or a first visit.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but, if you prefer, you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you delete your cookies or if you set your web browser to decline cookies, some features of the Sites may not work or may not work as designed. For more information on cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information provided by the Interactive Advertising Bureau at www.allaboutcookies.org.

We do not use flash cookies, web storage, web beacons or other technology that tracks your browsing history across multiple websites.

EMSconnect works with a variety of advertisers, advertising networks, advertising servers and analytics companies. These parties use various technologies, and technologies form third-party companies, to collect data in order to send and serve relevant advertising to users. These technologies may include the placement of cookies or web beacons, the use of HTML5 LocalStorage, the use of unique or non-unique non-personal identifiers and other technologies. These technologies may be used to track user behavior and serve you more relevant advertising. This relevant advertising may appear on our Sites or other websites that you visit. This privacy policy does not cover the use of various technologies by advertisers, advertising networks, advertising servers, and analytics companies. These companies may also obtain information from services you use from other companies, including without limitation, other websites, mobile website, mobile downloadable applications, and downloadable applications, and combine that information with information they obtain through these third party technologies on our Services. You should be aware that EMSconnect does not have control over these third party technologies or the information contained in them. You should be aware that if you choose to opt out through other sites, this does not opt you out of being served advertising. The ads will just not be targeted to you by any party from which you have opted out. You can also opt out of future information collection from our Services by ceasing use of the Service or in the case of an application, uninstalling the application.

Is Personal Information Collected From Children?

Unless otherwise disclosed during collection and with parent or guardian consent (for instance, in some of the educational areas on our Sites), EMSconnect does not knowingly collect personal identifiable information from children under 16 years of age. If you are under 16 years of age you should not provide personally identifiable information to EMSconnect without providing us with consent from your parents. If EMSconnect discovers that a child under the age of 16 has provided EMSconnect with personally identifiable information and we do not have parental consent, EMSconnect will immediately delete that child’s information from the Service.

How Do We Use Your Information?

We use the information we learn from you to help us personalize and continually improve your experience on the Service. We may use your Personal and Non-Personal Information in the following ways:
General Uses
  • Provide information to the national accrediting body for EMS continuing education.
  • Upload your content to our Service as you request.
  • Communicate with you about your account or transactions with us (including service related announcements) and send you information about features and enhancements on our Service.
  • Communicate with you about changes to our policies.
  • Communicate with you about your content submissions.
  • Personalize content and experiences on our Service, including providing you reports, recommendations and feedback based on your preferences.
  • Optimize or improve our products, services and operations.
  • Automatically update the Service on your device.
  • Detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be illegal.
  • Perform statistical, demographic, and marketing analyses of users of the Service.

Use of Your Location Information
Specifically, we use your location information to:
  • Provide information to the national accrediting body for EMS continuing education.
  • Personalize content on our Service, including providing you reports, recommendations and feedback based on your preferences.
  • Optimize or improve our products, services and operations.
  • Detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be illegal.
  • Perform statistical, demographic, and marketing analyses of users of the Service and their purchasing patterns.

Combination of Your Personal Information
We use the information from one portion of the Sites on other portions of Sites in our network of Sites or in reports and analysis, all of which are owned and operated by EMSconnect, and we may combine information gathered from multiple portions of the Sites into a single customer record or analysis or report. We also use and/or combine information that we collect off-line or we collect or receive from third party sources to enhance, expand, and check the accuracy of your customer records.

Who Do We Provide Your Information To?

Except as disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we do not disclose information about your Personal Information collected online to any companies not part of EMSconnect or its parent, subsidiaries or related entities. In no event will we sell or rent your Personal Information as part of a customer list or similar transaction.

Third-Party Agents
We have third party agents, subsidiaries, affiliates and partners that perform functions on our behalf, such as hosting, billing, push notifications, storage, bandwidth, content management tools, analytics, customer service, fraud protection, etc. These entities have access to the Personal Information needed to perform their functions and are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of that Personal Information. They are restricted from using, selling, distributing or altering this data in any way other than to provide the requested services to the Service.

Emergency Situations
We may also use or disclose Personal Information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) conform to applicable law or comply with legal process served on us or the Service; (b) protect and defend our rights or property, the Service or our users, and (c) act under emergency circumstances to protect the personal safety of us, our affiliates, agents, or the users of the Service or the public. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection.

EMSconnect E-mail Communications

E-mail communications sent from us or through us are designed to make Your EMSconnect experience more efficient. By participating in the Services, You specifically agree to accept and consent to receiving e-mail communications initiated from us or through us, which include, without limitation: monthly reminders to register for live training sessions, e-mails informing You of promotions We run and emails informing You of new and existing features We provide. If You do not wish to receive any of our e-mail communications, please do not use the Services.

What Steps Are Taken To Keep Personal Information Secure?

We are concerned about ensuring the security of your Personal Information. We exercise great care in providing secure transmission of your information from your device to our servers. Personal Information collected by our Service are stored in secure operating environments that are not available to the public. Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we disclose your Personal Information to you. Please understand, however, that while we try our best to safeguard your Personal Information once we receive it, no transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

How Can We Transfer Your Personal Information?

If you are located outside the United States of America, you should be aware that your personally identifiable information will be transferred to the United States of America, the laws of which may be deemed by the your country to have inadequate data protection. If you are located in a country outside the United States of America and voluntarily submit personal information to us, you thereby consent to the general use of such information as provided in this privacy policy and to the transfer of that information to, and/or storage of that information in, the United States of America. In addition, EMSconnect may transfer your information to computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your jurisdiction.

How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

Following termination or deactivation of your account, EMSconnect, its Affiliates, or its service providers may retain information (including your profile information) and user Content for a commercially reasonable time for backup, archival, and/or audit purposes. If you have any questions about termination or deactivation of your account, please contact us directly at info@emsconnect.org.

What Happens When I Link To or From Another Website?

This Service may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. Please be advised that the practices described in this Privacy Policy for EMSconnect do not apply to information gathered through these other websites. We are not responsible for the actions and privacy policies of third parties and other websites.

Assignment

We may change our ownership or corporate organization while providing the Service. We may also sell certain assets associated with the Service. As a result, please be aware that in such event we may transfer some or all of your information to a company acquiring all or part of our assets or to another company with which we have merged. Under such circumstances we would, to the extent possible, require the acquiring party to follow the practices described in this Privacy Policy, as it may be amended from time to time. Nevertheless, we cannot promise that an acquiring company or the merged company will have the same privacy practices or treat your information the same as described in this Privacy Policy.

Changes to This Policy

As our Service continues to develop, we may add new services and features to our Service. In the event that these additions affect our Privacy Policy, this document will be updated appropriately. We will post those changes prominently so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information and whether we will disclose it to anyone. We do, however, recommend that you read this Privacy Policy each time you use our Service in case you missed our notice of changes to the Privacy Policy. We will not, however, materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of Personal Information we have previously collected from you without your express consent.

How Do I Opt-Out of Receiving Communications?

You may always opt-out of receiving future e-mail messages and newsletters from EMSconnect. If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to receive any communications from us, please follow the unsubscribe instructions provided in any of the communications. You can also send us a message at info@emsconnect.org. Please note, however, that you generally cannot opt-out of service related announcements, e.g. if the Service is temporarily suspended or if delivery of a product or service is delayed.

Your California Privacy Rights

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits customers of EMSconnect who are California residents to request certain information regarding its disclosure of their personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an e-mail to info@emsconnect.org. These Services will respect your browser’s Do Not Track signals (or other well-established, commercially available mechanisms that provide you with the ability to exercise choice regarding the collection of Personal Information). If we receive a Do Not Track notice, we will stop using any Personal Information for online behavioral advertising purposes.