Private Policy

WEBSITE PRIVACY NOTICE

Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan
Adopted by the Board Directors on January 11, 2012
 
Welcome to the official Web site of Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan. This Web site is owned and operated by Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization located in southeastern Michigan.
 
Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (“GSSEM”) is committed to protecting the privacy of youth and adult website visitors. This website privacy notice discloses how GSSEM collects, protects, and uses information provided online, as well as how GSSEM protects children's privacy. By using the pages on this site, visitors are accepting the practices described in the Privacy Policy.
 
If GSSEM policy practices described herein change any time in the future, GSSEM will post the policy changes on our website. It is important for our visitors to understand that all personally identifiable information that is collected will be treated in accordance with the privacy notice in effect at the time the information is collected.
 

DATA COLLECTION

GSSEM’s online properties comprise of, but are not limited to, all pages found under www.gssem.org, including the online council shop, camp website and our destination sites for volunteers, girls and teens.
 
GSSEM uses its best efforts to respect and protect the privacy of its online visitors. This means visitors are not required to register or provide information in order to simply view the GSSEM website.
 
GSSEM only gathers personally identifiable data, such as names, addresses, zip/postal codes, email addresses, etc., when voluntarily submitted by a visitor. Examples include: personally identifiable information collected in order to process online transactions, online donations, or job applications. This information is used solely by GSSEM or other entities who are involved in the operation of this site for internal purposes.
 
GSSEM does not sell information to third parties. GSSEM will only share personally identifiable information with third parties when:

• The person submitting the information has authorized GSSEM to share it;
  
  
• Sharing the information is necessary to the operation of the site or a service on the site, for instance, to process a credit card transaction,  - or -
  
  
• We are required to do so by law.

GSSEM has no control over or responsibility for the data collection and use practices of third parties that process online transactions, for example, credit card companies. Please note that GSSEM never asks for social security numbers.
 

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) protects the personal information of children under the age of 13. This applies to individually identifiable information about a child that is collected online, such as full name, home address, email address, telephone number or any other information that would allow someone to identify or contact the child.
 
COPPA also cover other types of information—for example, hobbies, interests and information collected through “internet cookies” or other types of tracking mechanisms—when they are tied to individually identifiable information. It is important to understand this law; parent/guardians are encouraged to read more about COPPA.

*** NOTE TO PARENT/GUARDIANS ABOUT WEBSITE PRIVACY OF CHILDREN ***
 
GSSEM is committed to providing a safe, secure, and fun online experience for children who visit our site. GSSEM is dedicated to safeguarding any personal information collected online and to helping parents and children have positive experiences on the Internet. Consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, GSSEM will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without prior verifiable parental consent.
 
Parents can revoke their consent and ask that information about their children be deleted from the website by contacting GSSEM by phone at (800) 482-6734 or via e-mail. To do this or to review personal information collected from children, we must verify the identity of the requesting parent. When a parent revokes consent, we will stop collecting, using, or disclosing information from that child. To respect the privacy of parents, information collected and used for the sole purpose of obtaining verifiable parental consent or providing notice is not maintained in retrievable form by the website if parental consent is not obtained after a reasonable time.
 
GSSEM believes it is good policy not to collect any more personally identifiable information from children under 13 than is necessary for them to participate in our online activities. In addition, be aware that all sites that are targeted to children under 13 are prohibited by law from collecting more information than they need.
 

SUBMISSIONS

 
GSSEM welcomes youth to learn more about our organization and, where appropriate, participate in polls and surveys, as well as submit comments, artwork, writings, and other submissions for posting on our Website. For this reason, GSSEM follows the guidelines for interactive electronic media published by the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Better Business Bureau for pages targeted to children under 13. However, we encourage this be done only with their parent's knowledge and supervision. We also encourage children to use an alias (e.g., "Bookworm", "Skater", etc.), first name, nickname, initials, or other alternative to full names or screen names which correspond with an email address for any activities which will involve public posting.
 
In keeping with CARU's Principle regarding respecting and fostering the parents' role in providing guidance for their children, we encourage parents to check and monitor their children's use of email and other online activities regularly.
 

USE OF “INTERNET COOKIES”

Visitors should be aware that non-personal information and data may be automatically collected by the GSSEM website through the use of "internet cookies." "Cookies" are small text files a website can use to recognize repeat visitors, facilitate the visitor's ongoing access to and use of the site, and allow a site to track usage behavior and compile aggregate data that will allow content improvements. Cookies are not programs that come onto a visitor's system and damage files. Generally, cookies work by assigning a unique number to the visitor that has no meaning outside the assigning site.
 
If a visitor does not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows the visitor to deny or accept the cookie feature, however, be aware that further steps may be required in order to turn off “flash cookies.” GSSEM uses "cookie" technology only to obtain non-personal information from its online visitors in order to improve visitors' online experience and facilitate their visit within our site.
 

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES AND SERVICES

This website may be linked to other sites and services that are not maintained by GSSEM. These websites have their own privacy policies, which you should review prior to visiting them. GSSEM has no responsibility for linked websites and provides these links solely for the convenience and information of our visitors.
 

OUR SECURITY SAFEGUARD

The safety and security of our online visitors on line experience is of the utmost concern to GSSEM. We ensure the appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures are in place to safeguard and help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data security, and correctly use the information we collect online.
 

CREDIT CARD SAFETY

Protecting the safety of credit card information is very important. GSSEM uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to protect the security of credit card information as it is transmitted. SSL is the industry standard in Internet encryption technology, which is a highly sophisticated method of scrambling data as it travels from a personal computer/smart phone/smart device to the GSSEM website servers. Credit card numbers are encrypted during the purchasing process and whenever that data is transferred to participating merchants.
 
To make sure the GSSEM secure server is reached before personal financial information is submitted, visitors need to look at the lower left-hand corner of their browser. If an unbroken key or a closed lock is shown (depending upon the browser), then SSL is active. To double-check for security, visitors should also check URL or Address line of the browser. If a secure server has been accessed, the first characters of the address in that line should change from "http" to "https."
 
It is important to protect against unauthorized access to passwords for your computer or smart devices. Therefore, it is important to sign off when finished if using a shared computer.
 

CHILDREN’S PURCHASES

All children and youth under the age of 18 must get parent/guardian permission to use a credit card to make purchases online.
 

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, you can contact us at our address:
 
Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan
1333 Brewery Park Blvd
Suite 500
Detroit, MI 48207

800-326-0309
 
Or by sending us an email at: communications@gssem.org
 
Thank you for visiting our website.