PRIVACY POLICY

For purposes of this Privacy Policy, the terms "we," "us," "our," "AFICE," and "Academic Foundation for International Cultural Exchange" refer to Academic Foundation for International Cultural Exchange and all other affiliates of Academic Foundation for International Cultural Exchange. "You" and "your" refers to you, as a user of our website. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to disclose to you what information we may collect, how we may collect it, with whom we may share it, and certain other matters related to such information, including the choices you have regarding our collection of information and our use and disclosure to other parties of information we may have collected from you.

AFICE is committed to protecting your privacy.

By using our website at https://www.afice.org or other AFICE-owned websites ("Site") and accepting our Website Terms of Service, you consent to our collection and use of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not access or use this Site. This Privacy Policy applies to individuals and we reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy, along with related procedures, at any time.

We use the information we collect about you to facilitate commercial transactions and to provide you with a more personalized experience. We have created this Privacy Policy in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to protecting the privacy of all of our customers and visitors. The following Privacy Policy discloses the information-gathering and dissemination practices and policies of Academic Foundation for International Cultural Exchange.

Except as otherwise discussed in this Privacy Policy, this document only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you online. For some services, we collect and transfer personal information to third-parties assisting with online registration or other event or website issues. Please read the following to learn more about our data collection policies and practices.

Types of Information that may be collected
How is information collected?
How we use the information we collect
With whom the information may be shared?
What choices do I have about AFICE collecting, using, and sharing my information?
What security precautions are in place to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of your information?
A special note for parents concerning privacy
Limitation of Liability
Notification of changes and acceptance of the Privacy Policy
Correcting and updating personal information
Whom do I contact with questions or concerns about this privacy policy?

Types of information that may be collected

The personally identifiable information we collect is used to facilitate delivery of information regarding registration, important updates, and/or AFICE newsletter/magazine mailings to our customers. In the process of providing these services, we require our customers to provide certain personally identifiable information. Specific details may include, but is not limited to the following and may be subject to change.

The personally identifiable information that may be collected from our customers in completion of a Member ID registration form, purchase of a badge, email correspondence, posting a review or comment on our Site or the entry of a contest or sweepstakes includes customer's first name, last name, age, gender, home city and zip code, phone number, member type, email address and credit card number.

We may also automatically collect your internet protocol and referring website addresses, browser type, and domain name. This information helps facilitate your online experience on our Site. In addition, we may use cookies to track usage patterns on our Site and to control the display of certain functionalities. You can turn off cookies, but that may affect your online experience. Please see below for more detail on cookies.

How is the information collected?

We may collect information from you in several different areas on the Site, including but not limited to those described below:

Filling out a Student, Rep, Hosting, Partnership, or other contact form
You may be asked first to complete a registration form and provide personally identifiable informations.
Cookies
As with many websites, the Site uses standard technology called "cookies," which are small data files that are transferred to your computer when you allow your browser to accept cookies. Cookies automatically identify your Web browser to the Site whenever you visit the Site, and make using the Site easier for you by saving your passwords, purchases, and preferences. By tracking how and when you use the Site, cookies help us determine which areas are popular and which are not. Many improvements and updates to the Site are based on data obtained from cookies. Accepting cookies allows you, among other things, to personalize your experience on the Site. Cookies may also allow the Site to present to you advertising which may be of interest to you. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, you generally can Opt-Out of providing this information by turning the cookies off in your browser; however, some areas of the Site may not provide you with a personalized experience if you have disabled the use of cookies. Further general information about cookies and how they work is available at www.allaboutcookies.org.
Do Not Track Disclosure. We do not use technology that recognizes a “do-not-track” signal from your web browser. We may allow selected third parties to place cookies through the Site to provide us with better insights into the use of the Site or user demographics or to provide relevant advertising to you. These third parties may collect information about a consumer’s online activities over time and across different websites when he or she uses our website.
IP Addresses and Click-stream Data
We may collect IP addresses and/or click-stream data for purposes of system administration. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you access the Internet. Our computers identify your computer by its IP address. When you request Web pages from the Site, our computers may log your IP address. Click-stream data is information collected by our computers when you request Web pages from the Site. Click-stream data may include such information as the page served, the time, the source of the request, the type of browser making the request, the preceding page view and other such non-personal information. The IP address data collected is not linked to any personally identifiable information and is used for administration and security purposes only.

How we use the information we collect

We will process your personal information where (1) you have provided your consent which can be withdrawn at any time, (2) where the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, (3) where we are required by law, (4) where processing is required to protect your vital interests or those of another person, or (5) where the processing is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate commercial interests, except where such interest are overridden by your rights and interests.

We internally use personally identifiable information about our customers for our legitimate interests including to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, to improve our content and product offerings and to customize our Site's content and layout. We also use collected information to evaluate and administer our products and services, fulfill customer requests, respond to any future problems, such as difficulties in navigating our Site or accessing certain features, to send you communications about our own events and products, products and services offered by third parties that we think you may find of interest, to enforce our agreements with you, and to gauge user trends to determine what products and services are most popular with users. We believe these uses allow us to improve our Site and provide better service to our customers.

We may occasionally use a customer's email address and, in rare situations mailing address or phone number, to contact a customer regarding administrative matters or notices.

We may use information in the file we maintain about a customer to resolve disputes and troubleshoot problems.

As in any transaction, when you make purchases on our Site your credit card company will have all relevant information about the name of the vendor, item(s) purchased, date, total cost and other information necessary to process the transaction.

With whom the information may be shared?

Information we collect may be accessed by a variety of parties, depending upon the project for which the information was originally collected, the terms of that engagement, and the policies into or out of which the consumer has opted. From time to time, we may send you offers from AFICE, its affiliated properties, and our promotional partners based on the information you have provided us. We may share anonymous, aggregate demographic information and anonymous information obtained from cookies and similar technologies, with our advertisers, sponsors, promotional and business partners, and participating vendors. In addition, we will provide information we collect about you with third party companies involved in fulfilling requests or transactions you have requested, for instance, for online badge registration or hotel room reservations. We may also disclose your personal information with third party service providers who assist us in our operations y performing functions on our behalf. These third parties are subject to stringent data security and confidentiality requirements. These companies need access to member personal information in order to process your transaction, for instance to issue on-line badges you purchased or complete hotel room reservation requests.

Some of the third party content displayed on our Site is provided by outside companies. This content may contain cookies and may also contain web beacons. We do not have access to information collected from cookies or web beacons received in connection with third party content. While we use third parties which we believe are reputable to serve some or all of the content placed on our Site, third parties may use information (not including personally identifiable information) about your visits to our Site and other websites to assist in serving their third party content to you. They may also share information with their clients such as date/time of the content shown, the specific content shown, the internet protocol address and other similar information.

Important Note

We reserve the right to use or disclose any information without notice or consent for the following purposes: as needed to satisfy any law, regulation or legal request; to conduct investigations of consumer complaints or possible breaches of law; to protect the integrity of our Site and our property; to protect the rights, property and safety of Comic-Con, our visitors or others; to fulfill your requests; or to cooperate in any legal investigation. In addition, in the event Comic-Con International (or substantially all of our assets) is acquired, consumer information would be transferred along with the other business assets as permitted by law. We may also disclose personally identifiable information to non-affiliated third parties as permitted by law.

What choices do I have about AFICE collecting, using, and sharing my information?

While we believe the limited disclosure of your information will result in opportunities that may be of interest to you, you have the right to tell us not to give your information to any third party. As noted above, AFICE uses third-party vendors for various administrative functions (e.g., preparing your application and transmitting it to AFICE or arranging for your visa interview) for its events. In order for these vendors to be able to provide the necessary services they need to have access to your information.

For those users who do not want any of the information transferred to any third party, you may fully opt-out of the AFICE system. If you do not want AFICE to share your information with any third party, email us at:

opt-out[at]afice[dot]org

with the subject line of "Opt-Out." We will remove your email and information from our system and we will request our partners to do the same. Please note that by sending such an email, any application you have for participation in the AFICE program will be cancelled.

You can elect not to receive automated promotional emails from us either by "unsubscribing" to an email you receive or by contacting us as indicated above. Any changes will affect only future uses of your information.

You can choose to delete or block cookies by setting your browser to either reject all cookies or to allow cookies only from selected sites. If you block cookies performance of the site may be impaired and certain features may not function at all.

What security precautions are in place to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of your information?

We use standard industry practices to safeguard the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information. Your personal information is stored on secure networks that may only be accessed by a limited number of persons holding special access rights and who undertake to respect and maintain its confidential nature.

Although we have implemented systems and procedures intended to secure the data maintained by us, security can never be assured. Please keep in mind that "perfect security" does not exist on the Internet and/or the World Wide Web. Remember, however, that any personal information you post on the internet may be available to anyone.

A special note for parents concerning privacy

None of the information on the Site is intended for users under 13 years of age, and AFICE does not knowingly register any person or accept information from any person under the age of 13.

We do not encourage children to participate in providing us with any personally identifiable information. We ask that children (12 years of age and under) do not submit any personal information to us. If you are a minor under the age of 13 years, you will not be allowed to complete a Student Contact form.

We support the guidelines and regulatory requirements provided in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA): https://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm

Changes to this Privacy Policy:

AFICE reserves the right to change, modify or amend this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our privacy practices in order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GFPR) (EU) 2016/679: https://www.eugdpr.org/ or other applicable laws. We will post a revised policy with an updated effective date on this site when we update our Privacy Policy.

For individuals within the EEA only. Under the GDPR, in certain circumstances, you have the right to: (a) request access to any Personal Information we hold about you and related information, (b) obtain without undue delay the rectification of any inaccurate Personal Information, (c) request that your Personal Information is deleted provided the Personal Information is not required by 1stdibs.com for compliance with a legal obligation under European or Member State law or for the establishment, exercise or defense of a legal claim, (d) prevent or restrict processing of your Personal Information, except to the extent processing is required for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; and (e) request transfer of your Personal Information directly to a third party where this is technically feasible.

In addition, where you believe that 1stdibs.com has not complied with its obligation under this Privacy Policy or European law, you have the right to make a complaint to an EU Data Protection Authority. When you submit a Contact Form, you have the right to Opt-Out of certain features and services including Email Opt-Out, which you should select if you do not want to receive e-mail communications from AFICE, other than account and administrative updates.

The full documentation of GDPR can be found here.

You may also email privacy[at]afice[dot]org for further information and requests.

Limitation of Liability

By providing us with any personal information you expressly and unconditionally release and hold harmless Comic-Con International, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees and agents from any and all liability for any injuries, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with the use and/or misuse of your collected personal information. In addition, while AFICE takes efforts to ensure the proper and appropriate use of AFICE data provided by AFICE to third party companies, promotional partners or vendors, AFICE is not liable for any injuries, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with the use and/or misuse of your collected personal information by AFICE or the above-mentioned non- AFICE entities.

Notification of changes and acceptance of the Privacy Policy

By using this Site, you signify your agreement to the terms of our Privacy Policy. Comic-Con International may change this policy from time to time. If so, any such changes will be posted on this page, so that Comic-Con International may keep its users informed of its information collection practices. Accordingly, we recommend that you consult this page frequently so that you are aware of our latest policy. Your continued use of the Site shall constitute your acceptance of such revised Privacy Policy.

Correcting and updating personal information

If your personally identifiable information changes (such as your zip code), or if you no longer desire to access our Site, we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update or remove the personal data you have provided to us. This can be done by contacting us via email.

Whom do I contact with questions or concerns about this privacy policy

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this Site, or your dealings with this Site, please contact AFICE by sending a letter to:

Attn: Privacy Policy
AFICE
PO Box 12094
San Diego, CA 92038

You may also email privacy[at]comic-con[dot]org for further information and requests.

For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”), the data controller is Academic Founation for International Cultural Exchange, P.O. Box 2094, La Jolla, CA 92038.

Effective Date: May 25, 2018