Privacy policy
Thank
you for participating in iGEM or visiting one of our websites. Your
privacy is important to iGEM. This policy explains what, how, and why we
collect, use, manage, export, store, and delete your information, and
what choices you have with respect to your information.
When
we refer to “iGEM”, we mean the iGEM Foundation that acts as the
controller or processor of your information, as explained in more detail
in the “Data Controller and Contacting iGEM” section below.
“Personal
Data” is information relating to an identified or identifiable natural
person. We communicate our privacy policy to iGEM employees and enforce
our policies within the company.
1. Applicability of this Privacy Policy
This
Privacy Policy applies to the information that we obtain through your
use of the iGEM websites (igem.org), including any subdomains
(collectively, the “Websites”), and other interactions (e.g., customer
service inquiries, emails, newsletters, etc.) you may have with iGEM. If
you do not agree with the terms, do not access or use the Websites or
interact with any other aspect of iGEM’s programs, including attending
our events.
2. Why does iGEM collect data?
You
may be asked to provide your personal information anytime you are in
contact with iGEM. You are not required to provide the personal
information that we have requested, but, if you do not provide the
information, in most cases we will not be able to register you for our
events or respond to any queries you may have. We use the information we
collect from all our events, websites, and programs for the following
purposes:
- We use your information to ensure our services are
working as intended, such as troubleshooting issues that you report to
us. And we use your information to make improvements to iGEM’s programs.
- We use the information we collect in existing programs to help us develop new ones.
- We
use data for analytics to understand how our services are used. For
example, we analyze data about your visits to our sites to do things
like optimize our programs.
- We use information we collect, like
your email address, to interact with you directly. For example, your
email address will be used to tell you when your account is activated
and to send you a new password if needed. You will also be entered on
the iGEM mailing lists and will receive our monthly newsletters. We will
occasionally send you information about iGEM events, organizations, and
sponsors. And if you contact iGEM, we’ll keep a record of your email in
order to help solve any issues you might be facing.
- We use
information to help improve the safety and reliability of our services.
This includes detecting, preventing, and responding to fraud, abuse,
security risks, loss prevention, and technical issues that could harm
iGEM, our users, or the public.
- We use information to bill and
collect money owed to us for our programs and events. This includes
sending you emails, invoices, receipts, and alerting you if we need a
different credit card number. We use third parties for secure credit
card transaction processing, and those third parties process your orders
and credit card payments.
3. Personal Information
iGEM may collect data and information in a variety of ways:
- Account
Information. Some information is required to create an account on our
websites, such as a username of your creation, your official first/given
name and last name/surname, email address, password, date of birth ,
gender (optional), phone number (optional), public name, profile photo
(optional). This is the only information you have to provide to create
an account with us. This information is treated as personally
identifiable information.
- Usage Information.
- Log data:
As with most technology services and websites delivered over the
Internet, our servers automatically collect information when you access
or use our Websites or Services and record it in log files. This log
data may include the Internet Protocol (IP) address, the address of the
web page visited before using the Website or Services, browser type and
settings, the date and time the Services were used, information about
your devices, and cookie data. This information is treated as personally
identifiable information.
- Location information:
We receive information from you that helps us approximate your
location. Unless you provide consent specifically for a location-based
service, this type of information is only collected in anonymized or
aggregated format, and is not personally identifiable. We may, for
example, use an IP address received from your browser or device to
determine your approximate location. iGEM may also collect location
information from devices in accordance with the consent process provided
by your device.
- Cookie Information. iGEM uses cookies and
similar technologies in our Websites that help us collect other
information. This type of information is only collected in anonymized or
aggregated format, and is not personally identifiable.
- Additional
Information Provided to iGEM. We receive other information when
submitted to our Websites if you participate in an activity or event,
apply for a job, request help or support, interact with our social media
accounts or otherwise communicate with iGEM. Here are some examples of
situations in which you transmit data to us:
- When
you visit and use our websites. We collect certain data when you use
our website or when you take part in our events or reply to our surveys
or questionnaires hosted on third-party sites. Certain information is
collected even if you do not have a iGEM account. This may happen when
you view pages, take part in surveys, attend any of our events, share a
page on a social network, etc.
- When you
register an iGEM team or register for an event on our websites, we have
to retain certain data relating to your order, such as your delivery and
billing address.
- When you create or use an
iGEM account. Creating a iGEM account allows you to use iGEM’s services.
You need to provide us with certain data to identify yourself in your
unique iGEM user account. Your iGEM account allows you to access and
control your Personal Data that you provide. Data is collected and used
during account and/or user profile creation, when logging on to your
account, editing your team wiki pages, adding an image, etc.
- When
you request your Visa Invitation letter to attend our events, we
collect your name, nationality , and passport information to generate
your personalized letter. Your passport information is treated as
personally identifiable information and is required to generate the Visa
Invitation Letter. We do not store the data permanently (passport
number) nor the personalized letter.
- When
you sign-in to edit a wiki page, we collect information on when you
logged in, when you made an edit, and the content of the edit you made.
We also have a record of your edit history through the wiki pages. The
content you post on your wiki pages is public once the edit has been
saved.
4. Cookies and other technologies
To
help analyze how you and other visitors navigate the iGEM websites,
help diagnose any problems with iGEM’s servers, we, with assistance from
third-party analytics service providers, collect certain information
when you visit our site. This information includes IP address,
geographic location of the device, browser type, browser language, date
and time of your request, time(s) of your visit(s), page views and page
elements (e.g., links) that you click. We may use cookies, pixel tags,
web beacons, clear GIFs or other similar tools on our websites or in our
email messages to assist us in collecting and analyzing such
information. We use this information to provide better, more relevant
content on our site, to identify and fix problems, and to improve your
overall experience on our websites.
If you do not
want information collected through the use of these technologies, there
is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to automatically
decline many of these technologies, or to be given the choice of
declining or accepting them. If you reside in the European Union or
other jurisdiction that requires us to obtain your consent to use
cookies on our sites, then you will have an opportunity to manage your
cookie preferences on the sites; except that certain cookies are
required to enable core site functionality, and you cannot choose to
disable those cookies.
In many of our email
messages including iGEM newsletters and announcements, we use a
“click-through URL” linked to content on the iGEM websites. When you
click one of these URLs, you will pass through a separate web server
before arriving at the destination page on our website. We track this
click-through data to help us determine interest in particular topics
and measure the effectiveness of our emailed communications. If you
prefer not to be tracked in this way, you should not click text or
graphic links in the email messages. Pixel tags enable us to send email
messages in a format customers can read, and they tell us whether mail
has been opened.
5. Email and Other Communications
We
may use your personal information to send important notices, such as
communications about updates for iGEM events you have registered for and
changes to our terms, conditions, and policies. We will do this via the
email address you provide when you register an iGEM user account.
Because this information is important to your interaction with iGEM, you
may not opt out of receiving these communications.
We
will also want to contact you about iGEM programs, general competition
announcements, website updates, and special offers from our sponsors.
This type of communication is most often conveyed through our monthly
newsletters but may also include special announcements. This type of
communication requires your consent, and you may opt out of such email
communications at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link found at
the bottom of those emails.
6. Sharing Personal Information
This
section describes how iGEM may share and disclose Information. You
determine your own practices for the sharing and disclosure of
Information, and iGEM does not control how you choose to share or
disclose Information.
- Customer’s Instructions. iGEM will
solely share and disclose user Personal Data in accordance with your
instructions and in compliance with applicable law.
- Corporate Sponsors. iGEM may share other information with its corporate sponsors, parents and/or subsidiaries.
- Aggregated or De-identified Data. We may disclose or use aggregated or de-identified other information for any purpose.
- To
Comply with Laws. If we receive a request for information, we may
disclose other information if we reasonably believe disclosure is in
accordance with or required by any applicable law, regulation or legal
process.
- To Enforce our Rights, Prevent Fraud, and for Safety.
We may disclose other information to protect and defend the rights,
property or safety of iGEM or third parties, including enforcing
contracts or policies, or in connection with investigating and
preventing fraud or security issues.
- With Consent. iGEM may share other information with third parties, when we have consent to do so.
7. Your rights to export, update, and delete your data
If
you reside in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have the right
under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to request from iGEM
access to and rectification or erasure of your Personal Data, data
portability, restriction of processing of your Personal Data, and the
right to object to processing of your Personal Data.
To
request access to or rectification, portability or erasure of your
Personal Data, or to delete your iGEM account, contact us directly.
Mailing address: iGEM Foundation, 45 Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
Email address:hq@igem.org
Phone number: +1 617-237-0037
There are three types of takedown requests we can process:
- Information on wiki pages from 2022 onwards: the individual must email hq@igem.org with the GitLab merge request link so that iGEM HQ can approve it.
- Information on wiki pages prior to 2021: individual must fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Bs4pcAGwuhXvHHhc7
- Account deletion: individual must email hq@igem.org with the following information:
- First/Given Name and Last Name/Surname;
- iGEM Username;
- Primary Email associated with username;
- Date of birth;
- Phone number associated with the username;
8. Data Controller and Contacting iGEM
Please
feel free to contact iGEM if you have any questions about this Privacy
Policy or iGEM’s practices, or if you are seeking to exercise any of
your statutory rights.
The Personal Data collected by iGEM is controlled by iGEM Foundation, Inc.
Mailing address: iGEM Foundation, 45 Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
Email address:hq@igem.org
Phone number: +1 617-237-0037
9. EU Data Protection Authority
Subject
to applicable law, you also have the right to (i) restrict iGEM’s use
of other information that constitutes your personal identifiable data
and (ii) lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
10. Modifications
We
may change this Privacy Policy at any time. The most recent version of
the Privacy Policy is reflected by the version date located at the
bottom of this Privacy Policy. All updates are effective immediately
upon notice, which we may give by any means, including, but not limited
to, by posting a revised version of this Privacy Policy or other notice
on the Websites. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy often to
stay informed of changes that may affect you, as your continued use of
the Website signifies your continuing consent to be bound by this
Privacy Policy.
11. Effective Date
The Effective Date of this Privacy Policy is January 23, 2024.