ALFN Privacy Policy
Introduction
This Notice explains how the American Legal & Financial Network, (“ALFN”, “we”, “group” or “us”) collects and processes your Personal Data. Each time you use our Site, the current version of this Notice will apply. Accordingly, whenever you use our Site, you should check the date of this Notice (which appears at the top) and review any changes since the last version. This Notice is applicable to all Site visitors, registered users, and all other users of our Site.
“Personal Data” is any information that enables us to identify you, directly or indirectly, by reference to an identifier such as your name, identification number, location data, online identifier or one or more factors specific to your physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity.
By visiting www.alfn.org or related websites, (together the “Site”), you acknowledge that you have read and understood the processes and policies referred to in this Notice.
Who we are
For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”), the Data Controller is the American Legal & Financial Network “ALFN” registered in the state of Missouri with a registered address at 2227 Silver Lake Estates Drive, Pacific, MO 63069.
Our President & CEO, Matt Bartel, is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this Notice for the purposes of the GDPR.
As a US based non-profit organization, ALFN doesn’t collect data, communicate with, or do business with any individuals or entities in the EU. However, some of our service providers may have offices or staff that are located outside of the US.
How to contact us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Notice, please contact us at info@alfn.org.
Alternatively, you can contact us by phone at 636-257-4500, or by mail to: American Legal & Financial Network “ALFN”, c/o Schmersahl Treloar & Co., PC, 10805 Sunset Office Drive Suite 400, St. Louis, MO. 63127.
How we collect personal data
Personal Data that you give us
We may collect and process the following Personal Data:
- Contact information, which you provide when corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you participate in discussion boards or other social media functions on our Site and when you report a problem with our Site. The information you give us may include your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, financial information and/or credit card information.
- Membership information, about your membership including your name, contact details such as address, phone number and email address (business or personal), age, job title, year of admission and any other information related to your membership. Membership information may be provided by you during the registration process, or by your employer on your behalf.
- Dues payment information, including financial information such as credit/debit card and account numbers used to register or renew your membership.
- Purchase information, relating to purchases made by members and non-members of for event participation, newsletter subscriptions, e-store purchases of sponsorships and advertising, either in-person or via our Site. Purchase information will include financial information as well as information concerning the content and time of the purchase.
- Disciplinary information, relating to ethics/disciplinary programs in which complaints against members are adjudicated, with the result being possible suspension/expulsion from membership. This may include extensive information about a member's business or professional activities, including employment information, and similar information relating to other individuals involved in the investigation, though would usually not include financial information.
With regard to each of your visits to the Site we will automatically collect the following information:
- Technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer or device to the Internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
- Information about your visit, including pages you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), methods used to browse away from the page, and any phone number used to call our phone number; and
- Location information
We may receive information about you from publicly available and third-party databases or services that provide information about business people that we believe will help us identify and provide products and services that may be of interest to you. We will obtain your consent before contacting you if required by the law of the country in which you are located.
Non-Personal Data
We collect information that is sent to us automatically by your web browser and we may use this information to generate aggregate statistics about visitors to our Site, including, without limitation:
- IP addresses
- Browser type and plug-in details
- Device type (e.g., desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.)
- Operating system
- Local time zone
How we use your Personal Data
We will only process your Personal Data, including sharing it with third parties, where (1) you have provided your consent which can be withdrawn at any time, (2) the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, (3) we are required by law, (4) processing is required to protect your vital interests or those of another person, or (5) processing is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate commercial interests, except where such interests are overridden by your rights and interests.
Personal Data that you give us
We may use Personal Data that you provide directly to us for the following purposes:
- to carry out our obligations arising from your membership, or any other contract entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information, products and membership services that you request from us;
- to organize events that you have purchased or registered for, and to provide you with information, and other materials, relating to the content of the event, the speakers, sponsors and other attendees;
- to provide our newsletter and other publications, provided you have given your consent;
- to respond to your questions and provide related membership services;
- to provide you with information about other events, products and services we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased, provided you have not opted-out of receiving that information;
- to provide you, or permit selected third parties to provide you, with information about events, products or services we feel may interest you, provided you have given your consent;
- to transfer your information as part of a merger or sale of the business;
- to notify you about changes to our membership service; and
- to ensure that content from our Site is presented most effectively for you and your computer.
We will use Personal Data that we have collected about your use of our Site:
- to administer our Site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
- to improve our Site to ensure that content is presented most effectively for you and your computer;
- as part of our efforts to keep our Site safe and secure;
- to measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you; and
- to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our Site about goods or services that may interest you or them.
We will combine this information with information you give to us and information we collect about you. We will use this information and the combined Personal Data for the purposes set out above (depending on the types of information we receive).
When we share and who can access your Personal Data
We may share your Personal Data for the purposes described in this Notice with:
- a member of our group
- partners, suppliers and sub-contractors, for the performance of obligations arising from your membership, or any other contract we enter into with them or you or to provide you with the information, products and membership services that you request from us
- analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimization of our Site
- trusted third-party companies and individuals to help us provide, analyze, and improve the Site and our membership services (including but not limited to data storage, maintenance services, database management, web analytics and payment processing)
- in the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your Personal Data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets
- if ALFN or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case Personal Data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
Selling your Personal Data
We will never sell your Personal Data to third parties without your opt-in consent.
Security
Although we use security measures to help protect your Personal Data against loss, misuse or unauthorized disclosure, we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to us over the internet. All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers.
Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology.
Transfer of Personal Data outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and International Users
We are headquartered in the United States. Your Personal Data may be accessed by us or transferred to us in the United States or to our affiliates, partners, merchants, or service providers who are located worldwide. If you are visiting our Site from outside the United States, be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located, and our central database is operated. By using our Service, you consent to any transfer of this information.
How Long we Store your Personal Data
We will store your Personal Data, in a form which permits us to identify you, for no longer than is necessary for the purpose for which the Personal Data is processed. We may retain and use your Personal Data as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements and rights, or if it is not technically reasonably feasible to remove it. Consistent with these requirements, we will try to delete your Personal Data quickly upon request.
Retention
We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with our Site. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you service, contact us at info@alfn.org. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We maintain one or more databases to store your Personal Data and may keep such information indefinitely.
Where we store your personal data
The Personal Data that you provide to us is generally stored on servers located in the United States. If you are located in another jurisdiction, you should be aware that once your Personal Data is submitted through our Site, it will be transferred to our servers in the United States and that the United States currently does not have uniform data protection laws in place.
How We Use Cookies
The ALFN.org website (the “Site”) uses cookies to provide you a safer, customized, and efficient experience.
When you first access the Site from certain jurisdictions, you will receive a message advising you that cookies and similar technologies are in use. By clicking “Got it”, closing the message, or continuing to browse the Site, you signify that you understand and agree to the use of these technologies, as described in this Cookie Policy.
You do not have to accept cookies and consent can be withdrawn at any time (see How to Control Cookies, below). You can change your browser settings to refuse or restrict cookies, and you may delete them after they have been placed on your device at any time. If you do not accept or delete our cookies, some areas of the Site that you access may take more time to work, or may not function properly.
We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with ALFN, including providing you with more relevant advertising. You can also change your cookie preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
What are cookies:
Cookies are small amounts of information that we may store on your local computer or mobile device when you visit the Site. When you visit the Site again, the cookies allow us to recognize your browser. Cookies may store your preferences and other information but cannot read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites.
Cookies set by a website owner (in this case, ALFN) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third party cookies”. Third party cookies enable us to provide third party features or functionality through the Site (i.e. advertising, social media functions and analytics).
What are cookies used for:
Cookies allow a site or services to know if your computer or device has visited that site or service before. Cookies can then be used to help understand how the site or service is being used, help you navigate between pages efficiently, help remember your preferences, and generally improve your browsing experience. Cookies can also help ensure marketing you see online is more relevant to you and your interests.
How to control cookies:
You can delete cookies on your computer at any time by checking the delete cookies option in your browser of choice. Please note that after you delete your cookies, you may be asked to login again on many websites where you may have stored a login cookie.
Please follow the links below to helpful information for the most popular browsers:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies
- Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
- Mozilla Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
- Apple Safari: https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/manage-cookies-and-website-data-sfri11471/mac
ALFN.org Cookies:
Cookies make the use of the Site easier by, among other things, saving your preferences. We may also use cookies to deliver content tailored to your interests. Our cookies may enable us to relate your use of the Site to personal information that you previously provided.
The information that we collect with cookies allows us to statistically analyze usage of the Site, and to improve and customize our content and other offerings. However, we only disclose information collected with cookies to third parties on an aggregated basis without the use of any information that personally identifies you.
We’ve listed specific cookies you’ll receive on the ALFN.org site by category to give you details about the cookies we’re using and their role in your site usage experience.
Strictly Necessary “Essential” Cookies:
These are cookies that are required for the operation of the Site. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our websites, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing. These cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the Site and therefore cannot be refused.
Essential Cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our websites and to use some of its features, such as access to secure areas. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the websites, you cannot refuse them without impacting how our websites function. You can block or delete them by changing your browser settings, as described under the heading "How to control cookies" in this policy.
Specific strictly necessary cookies include:
- ASPSESSIONIDAQSSQSTA
- Naylor_Privacy
- ASP.NET_SessionId: Session cookie that tracks an active session. The cookie is deleted at the end of the session.
- RequestVerificationToken: This protects against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks in an effort to give you a secure experience.
- cfduid: This cookie identifies computers behind a shared IP address and applies security settings. This helps us separate trusted machines from infected machines.
- JSESSIONID: Tracks information about your visit for the site’s application and performance monitoring platform, New Relic, in an effort to provide a more stable and reliable experience.
- Sitename#lang: This cookie determines what language you view the site in.
- .ASPXAUTH: Indicates whether you have logged in.
When registered and logged in, necessary cookies include:
- WWF9IVisit
- WWF9sID
- WWF9sLID
Analytics and Performance Cookies:
These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our websites but are non-essential to their use. However, without these cookies, certain functionality may become unavailable.
ALFN.org uses tracking cookies through Google Analytics. These cookies are designed to deliver information that is of most interest to you during your visit and beyond.
The Google Analytics cookie allows us to track, in aggregate, but in no personally identifiable way and without using personal data, traffic patterns on the site so we can optimize our web development and content efforts to better meet your needs. You can always opt-out of Google Analytics cookies by using Google’s opt-out tool.
Types of data that Google Analytics tracks includes (but are not limited to):
- Pages visited and number of pages visited per session
- Device type, operating system, and browser type and version
- Referring website or URL
- Site search keywords (Google Analytics only)
- _ga: Google Analytics cookie to randomly generated value to track unique visitors to the site.
- _gat_ClientTracker0: This Google Analytics cookie is used to throttle request rate (GA). The impact is that that the site doesn’t have to send as much data improving the overall experience.
- _gat_TimberlakeTracker: This Google Analytics cookie is used to throttle request rate (GA). The impact is that that the site doesn’t have to send as much data improving the overall experience.
- _gid: Used to distinguish users.
- _utma: Google Analytics cookie used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing _utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.
- _utmz: Google Analytics cookie that stores the traffic source or campaign that explains you reached our site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.
- _gali: This Google Analytics cookie is used to support the enhanced link attribution plugin for google analytics, which allows us to distinguish between links to the same URL by appending a unique ID.
Advertising Cookies:
These cookies are used to make the advertising displayed on the Sites more relevant to you. These cookies prevent ads reappearing and ensure that ads are properly displayed. Certain third party cookies may track users over different websites are will provide ads relevant to your interests.
Specific advertising cookies include:
- id, ide, __gads, id, dsid, ged_playlist_activity, _drt_: All of those cookies except for aid are set up by doubleclick.net. Doubleclick uses cookies to improve advertising. Some common applications are to target advertising based on what’s relevant to a user, to improve reporting on campaign performance and to avoid showing ads that the user has already seen.
- _dc_gtm: This cookie is used to help identify the visitors by either age, gender, or interests by DoubleClick - Google Tag Manager.
- Simpli.fi: This tracking cookie is used to target users with ads.
Social Media Cookies:
These cookies allow us to integrate social media functions into the Site and may also be used for advertising purposes.
Specific social media cookies include:
- Datr, fr, lu: These cookies are provided by Facebook and collects data on the interests of users via widgets such as the 'Like' button. This is used to serve targeted advertising to its users when logged into its services.
Web Beacons
As well as cookies, we use other technologies to recognize and track visitors to the Site. A web beacon (also known as a “tracking pixel” or “clear GIF”) is a clear graphic image (typically a one-pixel tag) that is delivered through a web browser or HTML e-mail, typically in conjunction with a cookie.
Web beacons allows us, for example, to monitor how users move from one page within our websites to another, to track access to our communications, to understand whether users have come to our websites from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website, to measure how ads have been viewed and to improve site performance.
Do Not Track Signals:
We do not respond to web browser “do not track” signals. As such, your navigation of our Site may be tracked as part of the gathering of quantitative user information described above. If you arrive at our Site by way of a link from a third party site that does respond to “do not track” requests, the recognition of any “do not track” request you have initiated will end as soon as you reach our Site.
Questions?
Should you have any question about how this website is using cookies that is not addressed above, please contact Matt Bartel, President & CEO, at mbartel@alfn.org or 636-257-4500.
Children’s Privacy
Our Sites are not directed to children under the age of 13, if you are not 13 years or older, do not use our Site. We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under the age of 13. If we learn that Personal Data of persons less than 13 years-of-age has been collected through our Site, we will take the appropriate steps to delete this information. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your child or a minor under the age of 13 has posted, submitted or otherwise communicated Personal Data to our Site without your consent, then you may alert us at info@alfn.org so that we may take appropriate action to remove the minor's Personal Data from our systems.
Links to Third Party Sites and Services
Our Sites may contain links to third party websites, applications and services not operated by us. These links are provided as a service and do not imply any endorsement by us of the activities or content of these sites, applications or services nor any association with their operators. Company is not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any third party including websites or services directly linked to our Service. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third party site that you link from our Service.
Your rights
Correction and removal
If any of the information that we have about you is incorrect, or you wish to have information (including Personal Data) removed from our records, you may do so by visiting your ALFN Profile, or contacting us at info@alfn.org.
Opting Out
Additionally, if you prefer not to receive marketing messages from us, please let us know by clicking on the unsubscribe link within any marketing message that you receive, or by sending a message to us at info@alfn.org.
Your European Rights
FOR EUROPEAN RESIDENTS ONLY. You have the right to ask us not to process your Personal Data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your Personal Data) if we intend to use your Personal Data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your Personal Data. You can also exercise the right by contacting us at info@alfn.org, by phone at 636-257-4500, or by mail to: American Legal & Financial Network “ALFN”, c/o Schmersahl Treloar & Co., PC, 10805 Sunset Office Drive Suite 400, St. Louis, MO. 63127.
Under European data protection law, in certain circumstances, you have the right to:
- Request access to your Personal Data. You may have the right to request access to any Personal Data we hold about you as well as related information, including the purposes for processing the Personal Data, the recipients or categories of recipients with whom the Personal Data has been shared, where possible, the period for which the Personal Data will be stored, the source of the Personal Data, and the existence of any automated decision making.
- Request correction of your Personal Data. You may have the right to obtain without undue delay the rectification of any inaccurate Personal Data we hold about you.
- Request erasure of your Personal Data. You may have the right to request that Personal Data held about you is deleted.
- Object to processing of your Personal Data. You may have the right to prevent or restrict processing of your Personal Data.
- Request restriction of processing your Personal Data Request transfer of your Personal Data. You may have the right to request transfer of Personal Data directly to a third party where this is technically feasible.
- Withdraw your consent
You can exercise any of these rights by contacting us at info@alfn.org, by phone at 636-257-4500, or by mail to: American Legal & Financial Network “ALFN”, c/o Schmersahl Treloar & Co., PC, 10805 Sunset Office Drive Suite 400, St. Louis, MO. 63127.
Your Californian Rights
FOR RESIDENTS OF CALIFORNIA ONLY. Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code requires select businesses to disclose policies relating to the sharing of certain categories of your Personal Data with third parties. If you reside in California and have provided your Personal Data to ALFN, you may request information about our disclosures of certain categories of Personal data to third parties for direct marketing purposes. Such requests must be submitted to us at info@alfn.org, by phone at 636-257-4500, or by mail to: American Legal & Financial Network “ALFN”, c/o Schmersahl Treloar & Co., PC, 10805 Sunset Office Drive Suite 400, St. Louis, MO. 63127.
California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 – This act does not apply to non-profit organizations. ALFN is a non-profit organization under the IRS tax exempt code 501(c)6.
Changes to this Notice
If we make any material changes to this Notice or the way we use, share or collect personal Data, we will notify you by revising the “Effective Date” at the top of this Notice, prominently posting an announcement of the changes on our Site, or sending an email to the email address you most recently provided us (unless we do not have such an email address) prior to the new policy taking effect.
Any changes we make to this Notice in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notification sent to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to this Notice.