privacy policy

Your privacy is important to us. This notice explains our online information practices and how we collect and use personally identifiable information. This policy is incorporated by reference in our Terms of Use agreement.

Collection of Personally Identifiable Information

We may collect the following types of information from you:

• Name
• Postal address
• Email address
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Employer or organization
• Job title or position, and description of duties
• Training interests and information about your education, experience, and membership in certain professional organizations
• Financial information (credit or debit card number, or bank account information)

How We Use Such Information

We use the personally identifiable information described above for the following purposes:

• To communicate with you about products and services we offer, including a schedule of upcoming classes and other events.
• To provide other information we believe may be of interest to you, particularly information about the practice of public participation.
• To enable you to register for, pay for, and attend our classes, or to purchase other goods and services from us on our website or otherwise, and to communicate with you about such transactions.
• To customize and improve the quality of training in which you participate through our website. For example, we may ask students who register for a class to complete a survey or questionnaire so the instructor can tailor the class to the interests and experience level of the students.
• Where applicable, to report your completion of classes which are certified for continuing education credit.

Protection of Personally Identifiable Information

We do not make available to the general public any personally identifiable information you provide to us. We use industry standard technology and efforts to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal identifiable information. These include secure servers and firewalls. All of the user data we collect is protected against unauthorized access. Only authorized employees or contractors who need the information to perform a specific job are granted access to this information.

We typically use third-party websites to complete financial transactions. This includes, for example, a “shopping cart” site that allows you to select multiple items (e.g., classes) for purchase, then pay using a credit or debit card, bank transfer or e-check, or other method. It also includes a “payment gateway” that conducts the authorization process. The sites we principally use for these functions are readytalk.com, paypal.com, mals-e.com, aitsafe.com, amazon.com, and cafepress.com, but there may be others from time to time. We will not use any such provider or third-party website unless it meets industry standards for protection of personally identifiable information and has an appropriate privacy policy.

Sharing of Personally Identifiable Information

We do not sell, rent, or otherwise give your personally identifiable information to outside parties for commercial solicitations.

We may share your personally identifiable information with other companies or persons when:

• We have your consent to share the information.
• We need to share the information in order to provide the product or service you've requested. If you register for a class, we may share the information listed above (except your street address and financial information) with the instructor and with other registrants for that class. If you purchase a tangible product such as a book, we may give your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number to the shipping company for the purpose of delivering the product and notifying you and us of delivery information.
• We need to share the information with companies who work on our behalf to provide a PublicDecisions product or service or to otherwise assist us with our business activities. Unless we tell you otherwise, these companies do not have the right to use the information beyond what is necessary to assist us, and are required to safeguard the information and not to disclose it to others.
• We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process.
• We determine that your actions violate the Terms of Use of our website.

Opting Out

You may at any time opt out of our mailing list by sending an email to Inquiries@PublicDecisions.com . If you opt out, you will no longer receive our quarterly Training Schedule and other communications from us, except to complete any transactions then in process.

Changes to Your Personally Identifiable Information; Your Ability to Correct Inaccuracies

To make changes to your personal information you must send an email to Inquiries@PublicDecisions.com . Following such correspondence, a PublicDecisions representative will contact you to arrange for the appropriate changes to your personal information profile.

Minors

We do not knowing collect personally identifiable information from minors. Accordingly, you must be 18 or older to subscribe to our Training Schedule, register for classes, or purchase any other goods or services from our website. Any exception to this policy requires written consent from your parent or legal guardian.

Third-Party Sites

Our website provides links to third-party websites that are not under our control. PublicDecisions is not responsible for the privacy practices of such third-party websites, and a link on our website does not imply our endorsement of the privacy practices of such third-party websites. If you click on a link to a third-party website, you should review that website's privacy policy, if any, to determine that website's practices as regards the collection and use of personally identifiable information. No third-party website is authorized to make any representation or warranty on our behalf.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information

We may use your computer's Internet Protocol ("IP") address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer the site. We may use IP addresses to gather non-personally identifiable demographic information, such as how many users visited a certain part of the website, but not to track a specific IP address to the identity of an individual user.

Cookies

Our server may place small temporary text files ("cookies") on your computer. These cookies may contain a unique identifier that enables us to personalize your visit to the website and create a better experience for you. You may choose not to accept cookies by setting your web browser to either refuse all cookies or to notify you each time before a cookie is set. If you choose to refuse cookies, you may not be able to use all the features of our site.

This Privacy Statement May Change

This privacy policy may change from time to time. We reserve the right to change it without notice to you, so you should review it periodically. Changes to this policy will appear only here.