IC Network's Position on Your Privacy.
The IC Network supports in an individual’s right to privacy.
We recognize that you trust us to provide quality health information.
We apply these same high standards when we protect your personal information
in confidentiality and privacy matters. This
statement discloses the privacy policies of the Interstitial Cystitis
Network and our affiliated web sites. Questions about this statement
should be directed to jill@ic-network.com.
Please be aware that the ICN contains links to other web sites. The
ICN is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such
web sites.
COPPA
Medical Web Site Standards
Information We Gather or Track
Voluntary Disclosure of Information
What We Do With Collected Information
Opt In or Opt Out Options
IP Address Policies
Deleting or Deactivating Your User Name
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA):
The IC Network is NOT intended for the use of children under the age
of 13. Our materials are academic in nature and written for young
adults, adults and senior citizens with a minimum high school education
who are struggling with bladder disease. Parents of children with
IC are certainly welcome.
Medical Web Site Standards:
Information We Gather or Track
- Your
computer communicates with our servers via an IP address (Internet
Protocol) which tells us your internet service provider.
- Our
automaticed "announcement only" mailing list and Message Board
System collects only the country, age and sex of those who sign
up for use as we develop new resources for our website.
- Voluntary
IC surveys may ask for information related to your experience
and symptoms of IC. To ensure your privacy, we will not ask for
any names or email addresses of those who participate. We will
assign a random number or designator to identify specific survey
results. Survey results will be assessed by ICN staff and/or participating
researcher and published via our web site and/or in medical journals.
- At
this time, the ICN does not use "cookies" to collect information
from our users. Cookies are only used in our message board system
to store password information on our user's browsers.
- ICN
Subscribers and/or customers do submit their name, address and
occasional credit card information for shipping and invoicing
purposes. This information is kept in the ICN offices in California
and will not be sold or distributed for profit.
Voluntary Disclosure of Personally Identifiable
Information on Message Boards, Chat Rooms (ICN Conference Center)
- The
ICN Message Boards and Chat Rooms are open to IC patients and
providers. Any information that you voluntarily disclose
(such as your email address or name) is accessible to any who
read the boards. On occasion, individuals and companies may attempt
to sell products, services or books on our site. These posts violate
our web site Use
Guidelines and will be deleted. However, we can not prevent
solicitations by e-mail done beyond our control. If you receive
a solicitation, please know that this is done without our permission
and is a direct violation of our use guidelines.
- Any
communication which you post on the IC Network web site (message
boards, chat rooms, guest book), by fax or email to ICN offices
is considered to be non-confidential. We do not engage in confidential
discussions with patients about their medical care.
- Our
system "hides" personal email addresses automatically
to provent the gathering of your email address by robots and/or
product promoters.
What We Do with Collected Information.
- Collected
information is only accessible by senior ICN staff.
- We
use mailing list & message board information to create plan
and develop new features for our web site.
- We
will use your email information to provide you with newsletters/service
updates from our site.
- Our
e-mail list and subscriber/customer lists will not be sold or
otherwise transferred to unaffiliated third parties without the
Subscriber's or User's prior consent.
Choosing to Opt Out of Information Collection
- You
can opt out of ICN mailings by following the unsubscribe link
placed at the bottom of every email.
- If
you are having trouble unsubscribing, please contact jill@ic-network.com
IP Address Policies
-
The IC Network has access to the Internet Protocol (IP) address of
your computer when you visit our web site and use our message boards.
The IC Network makes no attempt to trace IP addresses UNLESS, in the
sole judgement of ICN staff or volunteers:
(1) an individual is exhibiting suicidal behavior for which ICN staff
will try to locate the appropriate medical or law enforcement officials
(2) an
individual attempts to disrupt the activities of the ICN message boards,
as discussed in section 6 of the ICN disclaimer. This IP address and
any identifiable information provided in the message (such as a name,
or email address) will be logged and then provided to the appropriate
ISP and/or legal representatives for an investigation of that users
conduct. An example of a referral is the AOL Terms of Service Staff.
Deleting or Deactivating Your Name
It
is not feasible to delete all traces of a Subscriber's or User's activity
in our message board system. However, we do offer you the opportunity
to delete your email address-the only individually identifiable piece
of information about your account - You can do this via the "profile"
link at the top of the message board. However, if you do remove your
email address, you may not be notified of important changes to the
system.
http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html?HONConduct269714