PLANSPONSOR Institute.com Privacy Policy

Protecting privacy is a top priority at PLANSPONSOR Institute.com, a Web site operated and owned by Asset International, Inc. Asset International implements robust privacy protections, high-level security, and fair information practices to protect members' personal information. This statement describes the policies that govern the collection, maintenance, use, and disclosure of personal information about our members.

This is a short description of the PLANSPONSOR Institute.com privacy policy.

• Openness

Asset International fully discloses our privacy policy and information practices. We describe in detail what member information we collect, how we use it, and how we disclose it. As PLANSPONSOR Institute.com evolves and offers new services, this policy will be updated to reflect the changes. However, our strong commitment to privacy, security, and fair information practices will never change.

• Accuracy, access

Asset International aims to provide accurate and up-to-date information as part of our service. We permit and encourage members to review their information and to make any necessary corrections.

• Security

Asset International maintains all personal data with appropriate and high-level physical, electronic, and managerial safeguards to insure the security and confidentiality of the data against foreseeable risks. Security is designed to prevent unauthorized use, access, disclosure, destruction, and change of data.

• Disclosure

Asset International fully describes all sources, uses, and disclosures of member data. We do not collect, use, or disclose any information about our members without their knowledge and approval. We do not sell, trade, rent, or otherwise disclose our member lists or member information to third parties. We do not share snail mail or email lists with anyone.

PLANSPONSOR Institute.com's Privacy Policy Details

Openness

Asset International fully discloses our privacy policy and information practices. We describe in detail what member information we collect, how we use it, and how we disclose it. As PLANSPONSOR Institute.com evolves and offers new services, this policy will be updated to reflect the changes. However, our strong commitment to privacy, security, and fair information practices will never change.

Information collection from members

Registration: The basic way that Asset International obtains information about a member is through the registration process. When you register for the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Professional designation, you are asked to provide certain personal information. You are issued a PLANSPONSOR Institute.com user ID and password, You can opt-out of receiving email from PLANSPONSOR Institute.com that you do not want. When you submit an email request for more information, or register for the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Professional designation we collect your email address.

Surveys: Asset International may occasionally ask members and visitors to complete surveys and opinion polls about their interests, needs, and attitudes. Surveys help us provide better services that meet member needs. Participation is completely voluntary.. We do not use any survey information in individually identifiable form. Once you complete a survey, any links between your identity and your answers are broken as quickly as possible. All information provided through surveys is only used in an aggregate way. Individual survey responses are never used or disclosed in any other way.

Information collection from visitors

If you are just visiting the PLANSPONSOR Institute.com website, we do not normally collect any information about you except through web logs (see below). However, if you fill out a web form, send us an email, or choose to share information with us in any other way, we will have the information that you provided and will use it to respond to your inquiry or to fulfill your request if we can. We do not routinely share any of this information with anyone else unless appropriate to respond to your request. If you receive email from Asset International that you no longer want to receive, you can ask us to stop by sending a request to Support.

Weblogs

PLANSPONSOR Institute.com maintains standard web logs that automatically record basic information about everyone who visits our website. These logs contain:

• The Internet domain from which you access PLANSPONSOR Institute.com (e.g., aol.com, xyz.edu).
• Your IP address. Your computer is automatically assigned an IP address when you surf the Internet. Static IP addresses are potentially identifiable, but dynamic addresses are usually not identifiable.
• The type of browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Netscape) and operating system (e.g., Windows 98) you use.
• The date and time you visited PLANSPONSOR Institute.com.
• The pages that you visited here.
• The address of the website you linked here from.

PLANSPONSOR Institute.com uses web log information to help us design our website, to identify popular features, and for other managerial purposes. We do not normally make any attempt to identify individuals from web logs. However, web logs may be used if necessary to help identify any person attempting to break into or damage our website. We may share web log information with law enforcement agencies if we believe that we have evidence of a violation of computer security or related laws.

Partner Privacy Standards

Asset International contracts with other companies to assist in supporting our core features and functions. When necessary for these services to function, we exchange member information with these companies or those members who have selected those services. We require that our key partners treat our members' data under the same high privacy and security standards that Asset International uses. This means that personal information provided to our partners is not sold, rented, or shared by them except as necessary to accomplish the purpose of the disclosure. It also means that our partners will not use personal data for marketing to our members.

Advertisers and others

Through advertisers, outside content providers, and marketing affiliates, Asset International offers members the opportunity to contact other companies to obtain information or to buy products or services.

Asset International never shares any of your individual information with these companies. It is up to you to decide when and whether to give your personal information to these companies. If you provide information, its use is governed by the policies and practices of these companies and not by Asset International's policies and practices.

Asset International makes no representations or warranties about, and has no liability or responsibility toward its members in connection with, any of these other companies or their privacy policies. Once you click through to an unaffiliated website, PLANSPONSOR Institute.com privacy policies no longer apply. We strongly urge our members to read the privacy policies of these other companies and their websites.

We collect personal and plan information to facilitate a leading edge service development process, to provide you with a customized workplace experience, and to provide our advertisers with an efficient means to reach the appropriate audience. We do not, however, provide your personal information directly to advertisers.

Cookies

PLANSPONSOR Institute.com uses cookies.  A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from a web site's computers and stored on your computer's hard drive.

Each web site can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a web site to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

Choices about Cookies

• You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. (Each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.)
• If you reject all cookies, you will be required to login to PLANSPONSOR Institute.com each time you come to the site and to use certain site products or services.

PLANSPONSOR Institute.com Practices Regarding Cookies

PLANSPONSOR Institute.com uses its own cookies for a number of purposes, including to:

• Access your information when you "sign in," so that we can provide you with customized content.
• Keep track of preferences you specify while you are using PLANSPONSOR Institute.com.
• Display the most appropriate advertising, based on your interests and activity on PLANSPONSOR Institute.com.
• Estimate and report our total audience size and traffic.
• Conduct research to improve PLANSPONSOR Institute.com content and services.
• Require you to re-enter your PLANSPONSOR Institute.com password after a certain period of time has elapsed to protect you against others accidentally accessing your account.

If you click through to other websites, you will find that many of these sites set their own cookies. Asset International does not see or use these cookies, and we do not control how other sites use cookies.

Privacy policy changes and updates

Asset International will update this policy from time to time as we add new services and new features. However, our strong commitment to privacy, security, and fair information practices will never change.

Changes on our website will require additional descriptions about the flow of data. We will tell our users about changes in this policy by making changes on this page, which will a date, making it easy to see when changes have taken place.

Top

Accuracy, Access

We will tell our users about changes in this policy by making changes on this page, which will always contain a date, making it easy to see when changes have taken place.

A member can terminate his or her service with Asset International at any time. When service is terminated, Asset International will make every effort to remove all information from our system and to stop sending email and newsletters.

Like other Internet and computer service organizations, Asset International maintains several types of backups to its records. The backups permit us to restore service in the event of a natural disaster, equipment failure, or other problem. Backups provide important protections for everyone because they lessen the risk of loss of valuable data. Removing a member from our main files does not remove that member's record from any of the backup systems. It may take months before backup records are completely recycled and all traces of a member's registration and related data are completely removed. Of course, backup records remain subject to the same protections as other Asset International records.

Top

Security

Asset International maintains all personal data with appropriate and high-level physical, electronic, and managerial safeguards to insure the security and confidentiality of the data against foreseeable risks. Security is designed to prevent unauthorized use, access, disclosure, destruction, and change of data.

PLANSPONSOR Institute.com security mission statement -- Asset International recognizes the value of and our dependency on the data, information, and computer systems used in serving the needs of our members. As a part of everyday business it is essential that this information and technical infrastructures are secure from destruction, corruption, unauthorized access and breach of confidentiality whether accidental or deliberate.

Physical safeguards - Access to Asset International computing facilities, including servers, telecommunications equipment, the network control center, and other related areas is restricted to individuals identified by management who need access to perform their jobs. Access by anyone else, including vendors, contractors, and other Asset International employees must be approved in advance by management.

Management safeguards - Ultimately, the responsibility for the success of an organization lies with management. Asset International's senior management team maintains a strong computer security program with defined program goals, objectives, and priorities. Senior management is committed to providing adequate resources for security, to making sure that those resources are applied to security, and to doing whatever is necessary to make sure that security is a successful part of the Asset International operation. Asset International recognizes that security is an essential part of its computer system. We also recognize that no one can guarantee complete and perfect security against every possible hazard. We make every reasonable effort to provide high-level security. This includes a continual review of security measures and plans, the use of new technology when available and appropriate, and regular training for our personnel.

If you click through to another website offering products, services, or content, any information that you disclose to that website will be subject to the security policies of that website and not those of PLANSPONSOR Institute.com. Before you provide personal information to other companies, we encourage you to read their security policies.

Top

Disclosure

Asset International fully describes all sources, uses, and disclosures of PLANSPONSOR Institute.com member data. We do not collect, use, or disclose any information about our members without their knowledge and approval. We do not sell, trade, rent, or otherwise disclose our member lists or member information to third parties. We do not share snail mail or email lists with anyone.

Asset International recognizes that the information you provide is personal and valuable. Asset International believes the service we provide to our members should make their lives easier, without the fear that their personal information will end up in the wrong hands. This privacy policy describes the basic data disclosures that we make with our partners in order to support our core functions and features.

Asset International uses the information collected about you to assist you. We use personally identifiable information about our members only in defined and responsible ways. We use your information internally to respond to your requests, provide support, maintain your account, and for similar purposes.

We do not share user information with third parties except when we have informed users about the disclosures, when we have prior consent, or when required by law. We do not share your personal information in individually identifiable form with advertisers.

Where Asset International indicates that a part of our site is presented in cooperation with a third party or sponsored by a third party, the privacy policy of PLANSPONSOR Institute.com remains valid. That third party does not have access to your individual personal or plan information unless you expressly give permission to share this information. The providers featuring their information on sponsored pages do not know who visited these pages unless the visitor volunteered that information.

Some personal information maintained by Asset International may be used on occasion by outside auditors, consultants, and others hired by Asset International to assist in carrying out financial or operational activities. We permit these uses or disclosures only when necessary. All recipients must agree in writing to safeguard personal information, to use it only for an authorized purpose, and to return it or destroy it upon completion of the activity.

In addition, it is possible that Asset International could be required to disclose personal information in response to valid legal process, such as a search warrant, subpoena, or court order. All record keepers face the possibility that disclosure of their records may be compelled in some civil, criminal, or administrative matters. Disclosures may also be appropriate to protect Asset International's legal rights or during emergencies if physical safety is believed to be at risk. We think that these events are unlikely, but they are possible. We will take reasonable steps to limit the scope and consequences of any of these disclosures.

If we receive a subpoena demanding disclosure of your records, we will make all reasonable efforts to notify you of the subpoena when possible.

Top

Accountability

We will work with members to obtain a fair and rapid resolution of any complaints or disputes about privacy.

Asset International is committed to protecting your privacy and to making your online experience enjoyable, secure, comfortable, and valuable. If you have a question or comment about PLANSPONSOR Institute.com's privacy policy, you may send a message to Support.  You can also send snail mail to: Asset International 125 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich CT 06830.

If you have a complaint or dispute about this privacy policy, please let us know immediately. You can write to us at Support.  You can also send snail mail to Asset International 125 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich CT 06830.

We will do everything that we can to resolve any problems that a member has identified. We will respond promptly to all complaints and disputes, and we will inform members about their right to appeal if we have been unable to resolve the problem.

Top

Last update: March 31, 2005